The Baloch National Movement (BNM) has expressed deep concern over the US EXIM Bank’s decision to extend $1.25 billion in financing support for the Reko Diq mining project in Occupied Balochistan. The spokesperson stated that the recently announced partnership between EXIM Bank, US authorities, and Pakistan violates global norms and basic human conscience. “We have serious and fundamental reservations about this move. We have repeatedly made it clear that any form of financial assistance or economic partnership with Pakistan directly results in further genocide of the Baloch nation, enforced disappearances, and the systematic plunder of our natural resources.”
According to the spokesperson, the new US economic package of $1.25 billion for Pakistan will, under the guise of so-called development in Balochistan, strengthen projects that will inevitably lead to intensified military actions, forced displacement of local populations, and an accelerated and more severe takeover of Baloch resources.
The spokesperson added that the United States, having fought its own struggle against colonial oppression and being well aware of the historical consequences of suppressing national liberation movements, should understand the implications of such a partnership. “Despite the imbalance of power, every national movement in history has resisted external domination until its rightful national and historic objectives were achieved. This partnership with Pakistan effectively undermines the Baloch national movement and reinforces state repression.”
The spokesperson further stated that American financial support will ultimately contribute to the construction of more military camps and checkpoints in Balochistan, the expansion of surveillance infrastructure, the exploitation of natural resources, and efforts to crush Baloch resistance. “In these circumstances, EXIM’s financing is nothing less than providing oxygen to Pakistan’s occupation and the ongoing genocide of the Baloch nation.”
Highlighting the humanitarian dimension, the spokesperson said, “Before celebrating attractive investment prospects in Balochistan, the United States must confront its own conscience and values. Thousands of Baloch youth are suffering in secret Pakistan Army detention centers under inhumane conditions, while thousands of mothers and sisters have turned into living embodiments of grief as they wait endlessly for their loved ones. In such a situation, US assistance does not heal the wounds of the Baloch nation — it deepens them. We hope the American conscience will stand against this oppression instead of empowering it in the name of investment.”
