Baloch monarch seeks UK asylum

Friday, 28 November 2008 12:01 AM

The monarch of the Baloch people is appealing for asylum in the UK today, prompting a potential dispute with Pakistan.

The Baloch are an Iranian people inhabiting a region around Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Pakistan is engaged in a long running dispute with Baloch political forces - earning criticism from human rights groups - and some observers are concerned relations with Islamabad will affect the asylum application.

Human rights activist Peter Tatchell has taken up Suleman Ahmedzai's case.

"The Khan is seen by many Baloch people as their head of state. His treatment by the British government has been squalid and disrespectful," he said.

"Pakistan's military and intelligence services have threatened to end all cooperation with the UK unless our government cracks down on Baloch dissidents exiled here. This may be part of the reason why Suleman Ahmedzai has had such difficulty in gaining asylum."

The Khan of Kalat, 45, will appeal for asylum at a tribunal in Newport, Wales, later today. It follows a refusal of asylum in October of last year.

He originally sought sanctuary in the UK four months earlier, citing the killing of another Baloch national leader, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, as the reason he was concerned for his safety.

Suleman Ahmedzai's grandfather originally signed a treaty of accession surrendering the independence of Balochistan and incorporating it into Pakistan in 1948.

Both houses of the Kalat parliament opposed the incorporation.

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