The United States, particularly under the leadership of President Donald Trump, has pursued a transactional foreign policy that sought to exploit Pakistan’s military establishment for broader regional objectives. A notable example includes leveraging Pakistan as a conduit for the global distribution of Iranian oil, particularly to India, under arrangements ultimately controlled by U.S.-linked energy corporations. In this pursuit, Trump invited Pakistan’s Army Chief and attempted to bring him into strategic alignment with U.S. interests. At the same time, Washington offered diplomatic space for Islamabad to improve ties with Tehran, an unusual move given historical tensions.
Beyond energy strategy, U.S. policymakers are also aware of the vast untapped oil and gas reserves located beneath the soil and coastal regions of Sindh—a land rich in civilisation and natural wealth. The Pakistani military, having been briefed by international energy analysts, is now systematically occupying hundreds of thousands of acres of land across Sindh, especially in coastal areas, in what appears to be a long-term resource grab. The military’s colonial-style land seizures are not isolated economic moves, but part of a broader strategy of political repression and territorial domination.
Sindh, a nation with a glorious cultural and historical heritage, remains under systemic colonisation within Pakistan under the guise of religious unity and national security. Using religion as a political weapon, Pakistan’s Punjabi-dominated military and ruling elite have subjugated Sindh and other historic nations, Baloch, Pashtun, Siraiki, Brahui and others, transforming them into internal colonies. The secular, democratic, and nationalist movements within Sindh are being brutally suppressed. Hundreds of political activists are subjected to forced disappearances, illegal detentions, torture, and execution inside military-controlled torture cells. Human rights violations are no longer exceptions; they have become institutionalised patterns.
Meanwhile, Pakistan continues to serve as a global epicentre of religious extremism and international terrorism. Notorious terrorists such as Hafiz Saeed and others have not only found haven in Pakistan but have often been nurtured by its military and intelligence services. The country’s military operates more like a corrupt mafia than a state institution. Pakistan has consistently shown itself to be an irresponsible, rogue state actor that undermines peace, democracy, and human rights.
Despite this, the United States and other global powers continue to provide diplomatic cover, military assistance, and economic concessions to Pakistan. This raises critical moral and strategic concerns. By strengthening the Pakistani military and ignoring its repression of indigenous nations and political movements, the U.S. is effectively eroding its credibility as a defender of democracy, secularism, and human rights.
Such policies are seen by oppressed nations within Pakistan as an act of betrayal, an alliance not with the people, but with their oppressor. The support of an artificial, militarised state like Pakistan will inevitably alienate historically rooted nations like Sindh. It emboldens Islamic fundamentalism and extremist networks, and weakens the secular, democratic forces in South Asia that the United States claims to support.
If the U.S. continues to prioritise short-term strategic objectives by aligning with Pakistan’s military elite, it risks becoming complicit in the very terrorism it seeks to combat. Moreover, it will be viewed not as a force for good, but as a superpower that sponsors rogue regimes and crushes legitimate national liberation movements.
We, the historically rooted nations who have been forcibly imprisoned and subjugated within the artificial construct of the Pakistani state, such as the Sindhi, Baloch, Pashtun, Siraiki, Brahui and others, declare with absolute clarity that any form of support to Pakistan, whether political, economic, or military, is not a neutral act. It is a direct endorsement of our continued oppression, and a strategic alliance with a Punjabi-dominated military regime that has systematically denied us our identity, autonomy, and fundamental human rights.
The state of Pakistan, created without the consent of its indigenous nations, functions not as a federation but as a centralised authoritarian entity governed by a corrupt, militarised elite. Its armed forces operate more as a mafia than a professional institution, exerting brutal control over land, media, judiciary, civil society, and political dissent. The Pakistani military’s colonial-style land grabs, particularly in Sindh, where vast tracts of land are being seized for their strategic oil and gas reserves, further expose the predatory nature of the state.
In the name of religion and national security, our cultures have been suppressed, our political movement is being brutally crushed by the state, our leaders abducted and tortured, and our Sindhi society is facing systematic terror and brutality at the hands of the state, executed through its military machinery. This is not merely a domestic issue; it is a regional and international crisis that undermines global values of human rights, secularism, and democratic governance.
Despite this well-documented history of extremism, terrorism, and internal colonisation, the international community, especially the United States, continues to maintain close ties with Pakistan’s military establishment. Such relationships directly weaken the secular, democratic, and political forces in the region and embolden religious extremism and violence.
Let it be clearly understood:
Any international support, whether political, military, or economic, extended to Pakistan or its authoritarian military regime will be interpreted by our nations as complicity in terror, repression, and neo-colonial domination.
We urge the United States and the broader international community to realign their foreign policy with the principles they claim to uphold: democracy, justice, human dignity, and freedom of oppressed peoples. Continued alliance with Pakistan’s military regime will not only tarnish America’s moral and political credibility but will also contribute to long-term instability across South Asia and beyond.
The world must choose between standing with subjugated nations fighting for freedom or empowering a rogue, extremist state that thrives on repression, exploitation, and terror.
Shafi Burfat.