Balochistan Quagmire: Is Pakistan Army A Solution Or Part Of The Problem As Pak’s Biggest Province Left ‘High & Dry’

EXPERT REVIEWS
ByGuest Author
December 27, 2022

On Sunday, an Improvised Explosive Device [IED] attack against Pakistan Army personnel in the Kahan area of Balochistan claimed one officer’s and four soldiers’ lives.

In its statement on this incident, the Pakistan Army’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations [ISPR], asserted that “Such cowardly acts by inimical elements cannot sabotage the hard-earned peace and prosperity in Balochistan.”

Rawalpindi’s concern for safeguarding “the hard-earned peace and prosperity in Balochistan” makes sense since the Pakistan Army claims to have done much to “bring Balochistan into the mainstream.”

Readers may recall that while speaking at a seminar on “Economic development through new Silk Route via Khuzdar: way forward to national integration” in January 2017, the then Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa had said, “Balochistan, unfortunately, had been neglected in the past for host of reasons, but not anymore. The military has contributed significantly to bring Balochistan into the mainstream.”

Gen Bajwa seemed sanguine that locals were alienated solely because Balochistan had been long “neglected.” He also projected the Pakistan Army [which is actively involved in what it calls ‘anti-terrorist’ operations] as the region’s leading harbinger of peace and prosperity.

Hence, it’s but natural that Rawalpindi would be concerned about any attempt to “sabotage” peace in Balochistan.

While there can be no two views that Balochistan has been neglected all along, Gen Bajwa’s assessment of this being the only reason for widespread unrest in the region may not be entirely correct. This was evident from what Prime Minister Shehbaz revealed during his visit to Balochistan’s capital Quetta in April this year.

Enforced Disappearances In Balochistan

Express Tribune quoted Sharif saying, “I held meetings with the leaders here [Quetta] today, and all of them said the same thing. They said that development projects are important, but the other problems must be solved first, predominantly the missing persons.” Thus, it’s not neglect but enforced disappearances that are the real tipping point for the violent unrest in Balochistan.

Enforced disappearances in Balochistan occur during so-called anti-terrorist operations conducted by the Pakistan Army and various paramilitaries, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies under its command.

Hence, Gen Bajwa’s attempts to shift the entire onus of public outrage on the government and bureaucracy by overplaying the ‘neglect’ part while conveniently brushing the more menacing “missing persons” issue under the carpet is understandable.

To avoid getting on the wrong side of Rawalpindi, Pakistani media rarely carries reports about enforced disappearances or the Pakistan Army’s “kill and dump” policy in Balochistan.

However, just Google search “Land of enforced disappearances,” and you’ll find that at least four out of the top 10 results pertain to Balochistan. Similarly, Google search “dump and kill policy,” and don’t be surprised to find that all the top ten results are about Balochistan!

Thus, Gen Bajwa’s declaration that the Pakistan Army has gone the extra mile to bring Balochistan into the “mainstream” is devoid of substance.

It’s gross human rights violations and unspeakable atrocities being committed by the military upon the Baloch people pushing the oppressed locals into picking up arms against the state.

Pakistan Army A Part Of The Baloch Problem?

In 2020, two Baloch activists who were particularly critical of the Pakistan Army and were threatened by bodily harm fled the country and died under mysterious circumstances seven months apart.

In 2012, Sajid Hussain authored a series of reports on “enforced disappearances and human rights violations in Balochistan” that enraged the Pakistan Army. Forced to flee Pakistan, Hussain sought asylum in Sweden and started an online newspaper, ‘Balochistan Times.’

Hussain went missing in March 2020, and his body was fished out from a river three weeks later. Daniel Bastard, who heads the Asia-Pacific desk of Reporters sans frontières [RSF], opined that “everything indicates that this is an enforced disappearance.”

He said, “if you ask yourself who would have an interest in silencing a dissident journalist, the first response would have to be the Pakistani intelligence services [ISI].”

In December 2020, the dead body of Karima Baloch, a Balochi activist, was found on a lakeside in Canada, where she was living in self-imposed exile.

In her 2016 video message addressed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Karima said, “We appeal to you that as our brother, you speak about the genocide and war crimes in Baloch on international forums and become the voice of the sisters of Baloch,” adding that “We will fight this on our own, we just want you to become the voice of our struggle.”

Though the police in Sweden and Canada have ruled out foul play in both these cases, the chances of these deaths being accidental or suicides are incredibly remote.

And if one were to follow the RSF Asia-Pacific Chief’s instruction of pondering who would be interested in silencing dissident Balochi journalists or activists at home or abroad, all fingers would point at the Pakistan Army, the paramilitary, police, and intelligence agencies.

So, no prize for establishing whether the Pakistan Army is the solution to the Balochistan problem or a part of it!

Nilesh Kunwar is a retired Indian Army Officer who has served in Jammu & Kashmir & the North East. He is a prominent military analyst and writes for many newspapers, journals, and think tanks. 

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A History Of Balochistan – OpEd

 

Gwadar city, Balochistan, Pakistan. Photo Credit: Shayhaq Baloch, Wikipedia Commons

 June 3, 2022  

By Patial RC

Balochistan with a mixed history has historically found itself squeezed between competing  powers due to its geographical location between modern-day Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. Earlier it fought to maintain its autonomy against aggressive empires. During the British rule it was directly administered as the ‘Baluchistan Agency’ and a federation of sovereign princely states led by the Khanate of Kalat. Once the British left, Khan of Kalat declared the independence of Kalat state, including that of Las Bela, Kharan and Makkoran.

The Pakistani government was able to pressure the Khan of Kalat to accede to Pakistan by 27 March 1948. However, both Houses of the Kalat legislature rejected the move. The ruler’s own brother, Prince Abdul Karim, initiated a revolt against the coerced merger with Pakistan, resulting in the Pakistan Army’s occupation of Balochistan and since then pro-independence factions continue the Balochistan freedom struggle. 

Balochistan Struggle 

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) is an armed separatist group that targets security forces and civilians, mainly in ethnic Baloch areas of Pakistan. The BLA, the armed wing of the Baloch movement, has carried out several violent attacks in Pakistan. It has about 6,000 cadre spread across Balochistan and in the bordering areas of Afghanistan. It is borne out of the tradition of armed militants who were earlier indirectly supported by the Marri, Bugti, Mengal and other clans. The US has designated the BLA as a terror organisation. 

BLA is opposed to Pakistan’s exploiting the resources of the  without giving the due share to the locals and the indigenous Baloch tribes. In recent years, the BLA has emerged as a movement with a network of supporters in both urban and rural areas of Balochistan. BLA rebels have claimed that they are aiming for both freedom from Pakistan and internal reform of the Baloch society. 

Geography

Balochistan is geographically the largest of the four provinces at 347,190 square km and totals 42 percent of the total land area of Pakistan. The population density is very low due to the mountainous terrain and scarcity of water.

The Sulaiman Mountains dominate the northeast  and the Bolan Pass is a natural route into Afghanistan towards Kandhar. Much of the province south of the Quetta  is sparse desert terrain with pockets of inhabitable towns mostly near rivers and streams. Quetta is situated in a river valley near the border with Afghanistan, with a road to Kandahar in the northwest.Iranian Balochistan is to the west, Afghanistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas to the north and Punjab and Sindh to the east. To the south is the Arabian Sea. The principal languages in the province are Baluchi, Pashto, Brahui, and Persian. The capital and largest city is Quetta.

The  Balochistan Economy

The economy of Balochistan is mainly based upon the production of natural gas, coal and other minerals like gold, copper, etc. Agricultural development could not take place due to the absence of  water. Wheat, rice, jowar are the major food crops, and fruits are the principal cash crops. In addition to this great majority of the population is involved in sheep grazing.

Despite being rich in natural resources the people of this region are living in extremely poor conditions. Much of the population is illiterate, malnourished living without electricity or clean drinking water.

The  Water Crisis

The people of Pakistan, particularly those in southern Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, are facing the worst kind of water crisis. Research suggests that 85 per cent of people in Balochistan have no access to clean water. The groundwater situation in Pakistan is also alarming, having tumbled down to frightening levels. Pakistan ranks 14 among the 17 countries that are deemed extremely high water-risk regions in the world. Experts say Pakistan may become the most water-stressed nation in the region by 2040.

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Exploitation

The political and economic outcomes of the CPEC are at cross roads with the local politics of total distrust and regionalism in Balochistan. The history of political exclusion and resource exploitation by the elite Punjabi military-bureaucracy nexus manifested in Balochs’ CPEC. The acquisition of Gwadar port, exclusion of Baloch firms and labour from Gwadar and associated CPEC projects and exclusion of native fishermen have heightened pre-existing feelings of regionalism in Balochistan, with Baloch nationalist forces either wholly rejecting the project or voicing for greater share in these projects.

Fish Resource Exploitation by Chinese

Most recently, Gwadar has seen protests against CPEC in the specific context of fish resource exploitation by Chinese trawlers. Many of the local fishermen vacated their fishing spots due to construction of Gwadar port in hope of better future. However, the federal government granted fishing permission to the Chinese fishermen ignited widespread unrest and further alienated the local population. This unrest culminated in a 28 day sit-in protest in 2021 led by Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) in which a large number of people, including women, and children, participated.

Gwadar Port

Pakistan has given China exclusive rights to run ‘Gwadar Port’ for the next four decades as it is under huge Chinese debt.China’s debt-trap diplomacy has not spared Pakistan, which ranks as its sole strategic ally.  China will take away 91 percent of the port’s revenues. It also plans to build near the port a Djibouti-style outpost for its navy. People of Baluchistan including women have been protesting against the sell out to China.

The Gwadar port project and associated networks of roads and railways have not resulted in integrating Balochistan with the rest of the country. Contrary to expectations, locals have not found jobs and despite commitments neither a hospital nor a vocational training center has been established. Instead, local fishing grounds have been taken over by the Chinese. The locals view development and economic activities carried out in Gwadar as exploitative which has led to anti-state feeling that  leads to violence.

In response to the Baloch people’s resistance against the  exploitation of it’s natural resources, the Pakistan Agencies have responded with mass-scale forced disappearances and  killings. Balochistan has come to be known as the Land of enforced disappearances which have increased in recent years. At the same time militants have increased the frequency of attacks aimed at undermining Chinese investment. Any blast taking place in Balochistan is a result of RAW conspiracy for the Pakistani establishment. Floods in the Punjab region of Pakistan are always a result of the Indian conspiracy which lets excess waters go without warning from upstream projects. Not withstanding the fact about decades of disappearances in Balochistan, Pakistan policies support proxy wars and enforced disappearances. What justice can a common citizen expect, and Balochistan lives with this malice of enforced disappearances…

Patial RC

Patial RC is a retired Infantry officer of the Indian Army and possesses unique experience of serving in active CI Ops across the country and in Sri Lanka. Patial RC is a regular writer on military and travel matters in military professional journals. The veteran is a keen mountaineer and a trekker.

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LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for BALOCH 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for BALOCHISTAN 

Pakistan: Continuing Chaos In Balochistan – Analysis

Baluchistan, Pakistan. Credit: VOA

 January 3, 2024  

By SATP

By Tushar Ranjan Mohanty

On December 27, 2023, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) told the Islamabad Federal Capital’s Police not to treat Baloch protesters as “enemies”. Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb’s remarks came as he heard a petition filed on December 21, 2023, challenging the arrest of marchers who arrived in the Federal Capital, Islamabad, on foot from Turbat town in the Kech District of Balochistan, and denying them the right to stage a protest in Islamabad against extrajudicial killings as well as enforced disappearances of their loved ones.

Expressing his outrage, Justice Aurangzeb asked the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP, operations) if the order to treat the protesters ‘harshly’ was given by him and declared, “You make some people sit in your lap while you treat others like this… They have come [here]. Let them sit.” 

During the hearing, the counsel for the petitioner – organisers of the protest, Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) – disclosed that 34 Baloch protesters were still in custody. Earlier, on December 25, 2023, Police freed 290 Baloch protesters who had been arrested when they attempted to hold a protest in Islamabad on December 21, 2023. 

The Baloch protest march started in Turbat town, Kech District, Balochistan, on December 6, 2023, after the alleged extrajudicial killing of a Baloch youth by Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) personnel on November 23, 2023. On that day, CTD claimed to have killed four suspected terrorists in an intelligence-based operation (IBO) near a bus terminal on Pasni Road in Turbat town. However, the family of one of the deceased – Balaach Mola Bakhsh – and members of civil society staged a sit-in at Shaheed Fida Ahmed Chowk, accompanied by the deceased’s body, and alleged that Balaach was taken away by the CTD from his home in the night of October 29. After 22 days, on November 20, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Bakhsh by the CTD, claiming that he had been caught in possession of explosives. He was presented before a court, where another 10 days of police remand were granted. His bail plea was scheduled for November 24, 2023, before which he was killed. 

The main demand of the protesters was the arrest of the CTD officials involved in the killing, and the formation of a judicial commission for an independent inquiry into the Department’s action. 

As the sit-in protest in Turbat against Balaach’s killing did not yield any result, the protestors decided to relocate their sit-in to Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. They concluded the sit-in in Turbat on December 5, 2023, after which they began their march towards Quetta. As things did not move, the protestors started march towards Islamabad and reached Islamabad on December 20. However, they met with brutal force and more than 200 protesters were taken into custody by the Islamabad Police on December 21. 

It is pertinent to recall here that in Balochistan, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings by the security forces and their proxies have long been rampant. Victims of enforced disappearances include political workers, journalists, human rights defenders, and students. According to the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), more than 7,000 persons have gone ‘missing’ from Balochistan since 2000. However, the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances formed in 2011 with the objective of tracing the missing persons and fixing responsibility on the individuals or organisations responsible for it, posted data on its website claiming that there were just 454 ‘active cases’ of enforced disappearances from Balochistan, as of October 2023. 

Further, according to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), of the 4,700 conflict-linked civilian fatalities recorded in Balochistan since 2004 (data till December 31, 2023), at least 1,469 are attributable to one or another terrorist/insurgent outfit. Of these, 494 civilian killings (300 in the South and 194 in the North) have been claimed by Baloch separatist formations, while Islamist and sectarian extremist formations – primarily Islamic State, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Ahrar-ul-Hind (Liberators of India) – claimed responsibility for another 975 civilian killings, 892 in the North (mostly in and around Quetta) and 83 in the South. The remaining 3,231 civilian fatalities – 1,848 in the South and 1,383 in the North – remain ‘unattributed’, and are largely believed to have been the handiwork of the Security Forces (SFs) and their death squad proxies. 

The state sponsored enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings have led to a spiral of retaliatory attacks and violence targeting the SFs and state establishments in the province, by Baloch insurgents. Civilians believed to be siding with the state machinery, have also been targeted. In this environment of chaos, Islamist terrorist groups have also thrived and even joined the Baloch groups. The major active Baloch insurgent groups include the Baloch National Army (BNA), Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), Balochistan Liberation Tigers (BLT) and United Baloch Army (UBA). 

According to the SATP database, overall fatalities in Balochistan increased from 406 in 2022 to 466 in 2023, up by 14.77 per cent (data till December 31, 2023). This is the highest number of fatalities in a year since 2016, at 636. Overall fatalities in Balochistan have been on a continuous rise since 2020, after a recent low of 180 in 2019. Balochistan alone accounted for 31.32 per cent of Pakistan’s total of 1,492 terrorism/insurgency-linked fatalities in 2023. 

Civilian fatalities in particular have recorded a significant spike in 2023, from 88 in 2022 to 160 in 2023, an increase of 81.81 per cent. The 2023 tally for this category is the highest since 2018, when there were 234 civilian fatalities. After a recent low of 83 in 2019, civilian fatalities have tended to increase, though there was a drop in 2022, with 88 killed, as compared to 111 in 2021. 

Non-locals, who are thought to be Army collaborators, face the wrath of Baloch insurgents. These ‘non-locals’ work as spies for SFs, and are also believed to be part of a systematic effort to deny work and benefits to the Baloch population. Baloch insurgent groups such as the BLA, BLF and the Balochistan Republican Army (BRA), among others, began to voice anti-outsider, particularly anti-Punjabi, sentiments in their campaigns in the wake of the military action against the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti, leader of the Bugti tribe and President of the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), in a military operation in the Chalgri area of the Bhamboor Hills of Dera Bugti District, on August 26, 2006. Further, many of the ‘outsiders’ are engaged on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects and are targeted because Baloch insurgents fear that CPEC will convert the Baloch people into minorities in their own homeland. Indeed, CPEC projects principally employ workers brought in from outside the province, overwhelmingly from Punjab. 

According to partial data compiled by SATP, a total of 254 ‘non-locals’ have been killed in Balochistan since August 26, 2006, (data till December 31, 2023). Of these, 198 were Punjabis. Other non-locals also fell to the ethnic collateral damage, including 37 Sindhis. The ethnic identity of the remaining 19 was unspecified. Significantly, most of the Punjabi settler killings were recorded in South Balochistan, which accounts for 167 of the total of 198 such killings (principally in Bolan, Kech, Gwadar, Panjgur, Khuzdar, Sibi and Lasbela Districts); and 31 in North Balochistan (mostly in Kalat, Nushki, Quetta and Mustang Districts). The overwhelming concentration of such killings in the South is because of the presence and dominance of Baloch insurgent groups in this region. 

Though SF fatalities in 2023 saw an eight per cent decline, down to 186 in 2023, as against 202 in 2022 (the highest in a year since 2000, when SATP started compiling data on conflict in Pakistan), the toll still remains very high. The 2023 number is the second highest recorded in this category during this period. The third highest of 177 was recorded way back in 2012. 

Meanwhile, terrorist fatalities continued to rise. From a recent low of 37 in 2020 they jumped to 116 in 2022 and 120 in 2023. 

Other parameters of violence also indicate that the overall security situation in Balochistan has deteriorated significantly in 2023. Overall terrorism-related incidents increased from 271 in 2022 to 278 in 2023, the highest in a year since 2015, at 444. Incidents of killing increased from 160 in 2022 to 168 in 2023, the highest since 2015, at 204. The number of suicide attacks and resultant fatalities increased from three and 13, respectively, in 2022, to five and 70, respectively, in 2023. The tally for suicide attacks in 2023 (five) is the highest since 2019, when there were six suicide attacks. However, in terms of resultant fatalities in such attacks, the 2023 tally (70) is the highest since 2018, when there were 209 fatalities. 

Islamist groups, mainly the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its allied groups have also been active in the province. Reports about a TTP-Baloch alliance appeared to receive some confirmation when TTP ‘spokesperson’ Mohammad Khurasani congratulated the Baloch insurgent groups for their twin attacks on Panjgur and Nuskhi Army camps on February 2, 2023, stating,

The Pakistani Army is carrying out the massacre in Balochistan. We are against the massacre of Balochistan as well as in Waziristan by the Pakistani Army. Our enemy is common.

Moreover, the then Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid, citing intelligence reports, told the media on February 3, 2023,

Baloch militants are not capable of launching major attacks in Nuskhi and Panjgur. TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) has the capability, experience and latest NATO weapons to launch such attacks. There’s some understanding between the TTP and Baloch militants. They have their hideouts in Afghanistan.

The growing nexus between the Baloch insurgents and the TTP is also visible in the absorption of two Baloch groups into the TTP fold. On April 12, 2023, the TTP claimed that a group from Quetta District, led by Asim Baloch, and another from Kalat District, led Akram Baloch, had joined its ranks. Though the development is worrisome for the security agencies and the government, it is not new. Indeed, a local Baloch jihadist group, led by Mazar Baloch from Makran, Balochistan, had joined the TTP on December 23, 2022, as well. Ustad Aslam Baloch’s group from Nushki District was the first Baloch group from Balochistan to join the TTP in June 2022. 

The insurgents also target the economic interests of the Pakistani state, as Islamabad is widely and rightly believed to be exploiting Balochistan’s natural resources. Baloch insurgents carried out at least 255 attacks targeting Gas/Oil installations and tankers in Balochistan, which resulted in the loss of 36 lives and 43 injuries. Attacks targeting this source of energy have a significant detrimental impact on Pakistan’s economy, a reality the Baloch insurgents are well aware of, and seek to leverage. 

The CPEC projects in the province have been a major bone of contention between Pakistani state and Baloch insurgents. The Baloch resentment towards the CPEC project since its inception in 2013 is that both the civilian population and insurgents believe that CPEC is part of a ‘strategic design’ by China to loot resources. The USD 62 billion CPEC is a massive series of projects that includes a network of highways, railways and energy infrastructure, spanning the entire country. CPEC is a flagship project in China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). 

Baloch groups have carried out attacks directly targeting Chinese nationals engaged in economic activities. According to partial data compiled by SATP, since July 19, 2007, at least 14 attacks directly targeting Chinese nationals have been recorded in Pakistan (12 in Balochistan and two in Sindh), resulting in 79 deaths (data till December 31, 2023). The dead included 10 Chinese nationals, 13 Pakistani SF personnel, 41 Pakistani civilians and 12 attackers. Another, 53 persons, including six Chinese nationals, were injured in these attacks. Most recently, on August 13, 2023, terrorists attacked a convoy of vehicles belonging to SFs and Chinese engineers near the Faqir Colony Bridge in Gwadar city (Gwadar District). The BLA, which took responsibility for the attack, claimed that 11 SF personnel and four Chinese nationals were killed in the attack. Jeeyand Baloch declared that BLA’s Majeed Brigade, its ‘suicide bomber squad’, was behind the attack and stated, further,

We have cautioned China repeatedly to reconsider its activities in Balochistan. BLA views such endeavours as acts of exploitation… Any foreign investments in the region should only proceed after Balochistan achieves independence.

The statement added that BLA had issued a 90-day ultimatum for China to withdraw from Balochistan, or prepare for intensified attacks on its ‘key interests’ in the region.

Though caretaker Prime Minister (PM) Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on December 26, 2023, asserted that the welfare and prosperity of the people of Balochistan were amongst his Government’s top priorities, for those who know Islamabad’s longstanding approach towards Baloch people, this is nothing more than a rhetoric. In fact, Islamabad remains hellbent on crushing the legitimate grievances of the Baloch people and exploiting this resource rich province to benefit other parts of the country – particularly Punjab – while the people of this beleaguered province remain deprived of most of the basics, and have the worst developmental profile in the country.

• Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
  Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

SATP, or the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) publishes the South Asia Intelligence Review, and is a product of The Institute for Conflict Management, a non-Profit Society set up in 1997 in New Delhi, and which is committed to the continuous evaluation and resolution of problems of internal security in South Asia. The Institute was set up on the initiative of, and is presently headed by, its President, Mr. K.P.S. Gill, IPS (Retd).

BALOCHISTAN IS A COUNTRY

Balochistan: Abused by Pakistan, looted by China

On 25 August, 39 people were killed when a Baloch outfit attacked police stations, railway lines and highways in a co-ordinated manner. 34 more were killed in retaliation by the Pakistani security forces.The 34 included Pakistani soldiers and police personnel and attackers. This happened in Pakistan’s south-western province of Balochistan.

The attacks continued through the night and into the next day. They were by far the most violent killings carried out in recent years by ethnic Baloch separatists, as the Pakistani State calls them. An armed group, called the Baloch Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for the killings, code named “Haruf”, meaning dark, windy storm.

That is the story so far. But that is far from the whole story. The Baloch have been systematically, clinically and brazenly exploited and discriminated against. Tortured by Pakistan’s “Punjabi” Army. Looted by China’s Communists. And hated by Iran’s clerics. Balochistan has become a land where anti-Punjabi, anti-Pakistan and anti-China sentiments converge.

Allegations are flying thick and fast. Pakistan claims that all the dead were civilians. But the B.L.A. says they were all Pakistani security personnel dressed in civilian clothes. Whether they were civilians or not is a moot point. But what is not disputed is that almost all the people who were killed were Punjabis — the name given to the people who hail from the Pakistani province of Punjab.
 
Some more things stand out. One, the timing of the attacks. And, two, the involvement of woman suicide-bombers. The attacks coincided with the death anniversary of a Baloch leader, Akbar Bugti. Bugti was killed by Pakistan’s security forces in 2006 when Gen. Pervez Musharraf was in power. Bugti’s killing fuelled the fifth and fiercest round of insurgency in Balochistan. And it continues to this day. The four previous insurgencies took place in 1948, 1958, 1968 and 1973.

The attacks also coincided with a visit to Pakistan by Gen. Li Qiaoming, the Commander of the People’s Liberation Army Ground Forces. The Chinese General called on Pakistan’s President and Prime Minister and also held talks with Pakistan’s Army chief Gen. Asim Munir.  Pakistan conferred the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, one of its top honours, on the Chinese General.

The B.L.A. says a woman from the southern, port district of Gwadar was involved in a suicide-attack on a para-military base in Bela. The chief minister of Balochistan province is reported to have said that three people had been killed at the base.

The Punjabi Connection

The Baloch-versus-Punjabi ethnic fault line is a story that threatens to snowball into a wider conflict -– one that could have disastrous consequences for Pakistan. The Punjabis are the largest of the six, main, ethnic groups in Pakistan. They dominate the military and other arms of the Pakistani State.

The real estate in Balochistan is exploited by the rich, landed gentry from Lahore and other cities in the Punjab province. Simply put, the Punjabis are well-entrenched in Pakistani society. And, that is why the Baloch complain that their land has become a colony of the Punjabi elite.

Mehran Marri is a Baloch activist. He lives in the U.K. Marri voices a similar sentiment in an interview to a private Indian news agency, ANI. He says: “We, the Baloch, live a life of indignity and humiliation every day, at the hands of the Punjabis.” Marri says that Pakistan’s Punjabi elite supports Chinese activity in Balochistan.

He bets that Beijing will have to stop the China -– Pakistan Economic Corridor sooner rather than later because the project does more harm than good to the locals. “It’s like setting up a chocolate factory in Gaza and expecting it to work amidst war and terror,” he says.

The Baloch have other grievances, too. For one, Balochistan lags the rest of Pakistan insofar as education, employment and economic development are concerned. Baloch separatist groups, such as the B.L.A., say that they’ve been fighting for decades for a larger share in the regional wealth of mines and minerals denied by the Pakistani Government.

Then, there is the issue of enforced disappearances. The Counter Terrorist Department of the Government is accused of carrying out abductions and arbitrary killings. Locals say that the Department is notorious for its so-called death squads. They claim, that what is happening to them is a genocide under the guise of targeted killings.

A quick word about Balochistan and the Baloch people. People of Baloch ethnicity are present in Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. They are Sunni Muslims. The Baloch society is organised along tribal lines. The Marri, Mengal and Bugti are the more prominent tribes. Balochistan borders Iran and Afghanistan.

It has a long, Arabian Sea coastline in the south, not far from the oil shipping lane in the Strait of Hormuz. Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan. It forms about 45 per cent of Pakistan’s total area. It is the richest province in terms of mineral wealth.

But, it is the least developed of the four provinces of Pakistan. And, it has the lowest per capita income in the country. The irony is that Balochistan contributes heavily to Pakistan’s G.D.P. but does not get a fair share of revenue. The province is home to key mining projects.

The Reko Diq Mine is famous for its gold and copper reserves. It is believed to have the world’s fifth-largest gold deposit. A Canada-based company called Barrick Gold operates the Reko Diq mine. Sui in Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest gas field but the gas it produces benefits the Punjab province.

Besides their dislike for the Punjabis, the Baloch have an animus towards China. Balochistan is home to major China-led projects such as a port and a gold and copper mine. China has invested 65 billion dollars in the China -– Pakistan Economic Corridor that passes through Balochistan and terminates at the Gwadar port. The Chinese have also monopolised fishing in the area.

Baloch groups have attacked Chinese interests and citizens in the province, and, elsewhere, in Pakistan. For instance, on 26 March 2024, a suicide-bomber killed at least five Chinese engineers working on a hydropower project in neighbouring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. A B.L.A. fighter says that China entered Balochistan without the consent of the Baloch people and that the Chinese projects will fail miserably.

Besides China, there’s another country that makes the Baloch anxious — Iran. The Baloch are present in large numbers in an Iranian province called Sistan and Baluchestan. It suffers from neglect, too, much like the Balochistan province of Pakistan.

The ethnic Baloch population of Iran feels discriminated against by the majority Shia population. Iran fears that the Baloch are supported by elements in Pakistan. The Jaish ul-Adl, meaning Army of Justice, is a Baloch group active in the area.

What about the West?

The West has taken a particular stance on the issue. The U.S. State Department does not comment on the continued repression and persecution of the Baloch but its Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs posts a message on X. It reads: “The United States strongly condemns the multiple attacks in Pakistan’s Balochistan province which took many lives.

Any violence disrupting peace and stability is indefensible. We stand with Pakistan in its fight against terrorism and we send our deepest condolences to those who lost their loved ones.” The U.S. has designated the Baloch Liberation Army as a terror group.

This lack of support or understanding does not deter the Baloch. They remain optimistic. Dawn newspaper of Pakistan quotes the late Baloch leader Akbar Bugti’s son Jamil as saying that he sees his father’s mission advancing, what with the daughters of Balochistan now stepping forward to strengthen their movement. And Mahrang Baloch is a good example of just that. 31 years old. Medical doctor. And, the face of Baloch struggle.

Mahrang Baloch heads the Baloch Yakjehti Committee. It is a human rights movement that was set up in 2020. Yakjehti means unity, or, solidarity. In July 2024, the B.Y.C. organised a national gathering called the Baloch Raji Muchi in Gwadar.

In December 2023, it organised a Baloch Long March, a 1,600-kilometre-long peaceful protest, from Turbat in Balochistan to Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, to demand justice for the extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of Baloch people.

400 Baloch protesters, half of them women and children, held a month-long sit-in outside the National Press Club of Islamabad, to demand justice for their missing and murdered family members.

Clearly, the Baloch seem to have had enough. They are in no mood to put up with mistreatment and humiliation any longer. “If the Baloch fight, they are called a terrorist. If the Baloch cry, they are called a coward. If the Baloch ask for something, they are called a beggar. Where do the Baloch go? What do they do?” asks Mehran Marri.

All of which raises certain questions to ponder.
— Where does the Baloch agitation go from here?
— Will the Baloch unrest gain enough critical mass to challenge the Pakistani State?
— Can the U.S. jettison Pakistan?
— Is Pakistan too big to fail, as some in China would like to believe?
— Will the West change its attitude towards the Baloch cause?
— How should India view developments in Balochistan?
— And, what if Pakistan implodes under the weight of its contradictions?

Asking questions is the easy part. Finding the answers will be much more difficult. I leave you with Marri’s parting shot.

“We have our dignity as well. We have our self-respect. Whether anyone supports us or not. The Baloch will stand up for themselves.”

Now, that is another point to ponder, isn’t it?

By – Ramesh Ramachandran (Senior Consulting Editor and presenter with D.D. India)

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At UN, Baloch activist raises concern about rights violation in Pakistan

Munir Mengal, a Baloch political and human rights activist on Tuesday raised concerns about the violation of the ongoing rights against minority communities in Pakistan.

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ANI | Geneva | Updated: 23-03-2022 

Munir Mengal, a Baloch political and human rights activist (File Photo). Image Credit: ANI

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Munir Mengal, a Baloch political and human rights activist on Tuesday raised concerns about the violation of the ongoing rights against minority communities in Pakistan. Speaking at the 49th session of UN Human Rights Council, Munir said, "No amount of violence and no amount of brutality, no amount of regression can crush the people's desire for the basic right to freedom. Since 1948, Pakistan with a colonial mindset has unleashed a might on the people of Balochistan who refuse to surrender their most basic right --- the right to regain their sovereignty on their land."

The Baloch rights activist said the brutality of the Pakistani state has led to an unending tragedy for the people of Balochistan. "The family members, the civil society representatives and students are continuously rallying at press clubs at Quetta, Karachi and Islamabad for the safe release of victims of enforced disappearances," he added.

Citing the reports of the human rights group, Munir said thousands of Baloch are victims of enforced disappearances including Baloch women and infants. "The practice of disappearing by force, extrajudicial killings and target killing are done in Balochistan systematically on daily basis with impunity." Notably, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) earlier had expressed alarm over reports of a fresh wave of enforced disappearances in Balochistan and the rest of Pakistan, including most recently, Hafeez Baloch, a postgraduate student at the university in Islamabad.

Experts believe that the missing persons may be dead or their mutilated bodies dumped into ditches and may be locked in some detention centers. The 49th regular session of the Human Rights Council started on February 28 and will continue till April 1. 

(ANI)

Baloch activists seek UN intervention to stop human rights violations in Balochistan

The Baloch political and human rights activists have demanded immediate intervention by the United Nations to stop gross human rights violations in the Balochistan province of Pakistan.

ANI | Geneva | Updated: 17-03-2022 22:55 IST | Created: 17-03-2022 22:55 IST

Baloch activists seek UN intervention to stop human rights violations in Balochistan. Image Credit: ANI

The Baloch political and human rights activists have demanded immediate intervention by the United Nations to stop gross human rights violations in the Balochistan province of Pakistan.The Baloch Human Rights Council organised a demonstration at Broken Chair during the 49th Session of the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday.

They shouted slogans like "Stop human rights violations in Balochistan", "We Want Freedom" and "Terrorist State Pakistan". The banners at the demonstration highlight the ongoing genocide and rising cases of enforced disappearances in the province.The protesters alleged that thousands of youth have been forcibly displaced in Makkuran, Jhalawan, Dera Bugti, and Kohlu regions of Balochistan and the perpetrators of human rights violations are given impunity by the military-controlled legal system in Pakistan.

Samad Baloch, General Secretary of Baloch Human Rights Council said, "We are requesting the United Nations, the international community and the so-called civilised world to intervene in Balochistan as they have done in Ukraine. Russia has invaded a sovereign nation Ukraine, similarly, in 1948 Pakistan has invaded and forcibly annexed Balochistan."He added, "It is the high time that they show their moral, political responsibility and duty to intervene in Balochistan and help the people of Balochistan to gain their sovereignty to live in peace, security and stability with honour and dignity in their own soil."Hassan Hamdam, Vice President of Baloch Human Rights Council said, "We are here to highlight the gross human rights violations happening across Pakistan. Balochistan is having the worst human rights violations these days as the Pakistan Army takes some actions against the Baloch people. They are creating a heinous crime against humanity."He added, "It is unfortunate that the Pakistan Army picks young Baloch from their houses and their mutilated bodies found in mountains. They are disappearing like ghosts. These ghosts are from the Pakistani intelligence agencies."Hassan said, "We are here to request the international community if there is a state who is killing its people then who is going to protect us? When the state fails to provide security and justice to the people, then there must be someone who is responsible to take action. It is the United Nations that brings us here to highlight these issues." (ANI)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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 How Pakistan Could Find A Development-First Path To Peace In Balochistan

Wednesday, 9 March 2022
Article: Globetrotter

By Justin Podur / Globetrotter

The disappearances and killings of Baloch activists living in Pakistan and abroad under mysterious circumstances have made headlines in recent years. The surge in cases relating to these “enforced disappearances” highlights the urgency for Pakistan to resolve the grievances felt by the people of the region as it tries to forge an identity away from the U.S. and looks to China for its future growth.

On December 20, 2020, on a winter day during the pandemic, 37-year-old Karima Baloch, a Pakistani Baloch human rights activist living in exile in Canada, apparently decided to take a stroll along the Toronto waterfront at Center Island—a tourist area that was located far from then-mostly locked-down places of business—and was found dead due to drowning. The police ruled out any criminal activity behind her death, but her husband, Hammal Haider, who is also an activist, said that they had received death threats a month before his wife’s death, according to the Guardian.

Eight months earlier, in May 2020, another Baloch activist, journalist Sajid Hussain, was also found dead due to drowning in a river in Sweden, where he’d been granted political asylum in 2019. These two deaths—both newsworthy for having taken place in Western countries and involving activists who had been living in asylum—are a drop in the ocean in terms of disappearances of activists from the Balochistan province in Pakistan. Groups in Balochistan believe there are thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of people who have disappeared in Pakistan, with new cases of “enforced disappearances” filed all the time. One Western source reported that more than 1,000 activists were “killed and dumped” in Balochistan between 2011 and 2016 alone.

Prolific Pakistani activist and writer Pervez Hoodbhoy told me that the protests against the “enforced disappearances” that took place in the Balochistan region at the end of 2021 “drew tens of thousands of people, including women and children, day after day for three weeks from nearby areas of Gwadar, including Turbat, Pishkan, Zamoran, Buleda, Ormara, and Pasni. They were protesting against the treatment of locals, and particularly the paucity of drinking water and intrusions by Chinese fishing vessels. The sense of deprivation is felt far and wide in Balochistan.”

There are many elements to the conflict between Balochistan and Pakistan. Balochistan is on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan and has been greatly affected by the four decades of conflict there. It’s the keystone of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which stretches from China to the regional hub port of Gwadar. It’s also the region belonging to the oppressed Baloch minority within Pakistan.

At the heart of the conflict, however, is the failure of the counterinsurgency model being followed by Pakistan for keeping the nation together.

England invaded Balochistan in 1839, as part of their 19th-century “Great Game” operations intended to secure and expand the British Empire in Asia. Considered semi-autonomous, Balochistan was called Kalat and ruled by Mir Ahmad Yar Khan, the Khan of Kalat, who declared independence during the traumatic events of the 1947 partition of India into India and Pakistan. After an eight-month insurgency beginning in 1947, the Khan of Kalat finally acceded to Pakistan in 1948. Several rounds of battle between Baloch nationalists and Pakistan’s government followed thereafter: in 1958-1959, 1962-63, 1973-1977, and from 2004 to today.

Forty years of often ambiguous alliance with the United States in Afghanistan has transformed the Pakistani state, strengthening the covert wings of the country’s armed forces. Since the 1980s, Pakistan has supported the Afghan insurgents. In the 2000s, Pakistan supported American counterinsurgents, and eventually came to support both the U.S. occupation in Afghanistan and the Taliban insurgency (which took over control of Afghanistan in August 2021 and has been governing the country ever since) at the same time. Pakistan used a U.S.-modeled approach to deal with Baloch separatism, sponsoring Islamic militancy against secular nationalism in the region and deploying the brutal methods of counterinsurgency.

When I asked Hoodbhoy about Pakistan’s approach to Balochistan, he said: “Like the dreaded generals of Latin America, Pakistan’s generals too have learned how to quell insurgencies. Over the years, dead bodies have appeared on the roadsides with marks of torture and many thousand young Baloch men have gone missing, some forever.”

On Pakistan’s nudging of rebels against secular nationalism in Balochistan, Hoodbhoy said: “The establishment has willfully used extremist militant religious organizations like Sipah-e-Sahaba as an antidote to Baloch nationalism. It has worked up to a point—what was once a Marxist-inspired insurgency as… [seen during] the 1973 uprising is now more ethnically oriented.”

Hoodbhoy also identified the local media coverage of the issue as part of the problem: “No journalist who reports accurately on events from Balochistan can expect to live too long,” he said. “In January 2022, Baloch students were rounded up in Lahore, which is many hundred miles away [from Balochistan], after a terrorist attack [a bomb blast in the market area in Lahore that was] likely carried out by the Taliban.”

These methods—covert operations, the infiltration and sponsorship of specific insurgents against one another, media manufacturing of consent of the public against innocent people who have been baselessly implicated in terrorist activities—are characteristic of the U.S. counterinsurgencies carried out in Iraq and Afghanistan. But should Pakistan keep using legacy U.S. methods when it is no longer under any obligation to do so?

Deteriorating Relations Between the U.S. and Pakistan

The visit of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan to Moscow on February 23-24, in the middle of Russia’s war with Ukraine, symbolized the sorry state of the Pakistan-U.S. relationship. This deterioration in relations set in more than a decade ago as the United States grew frustrated with Pakistan’s less-than-enthusiastic support for U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan and the inhumane U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. Former U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said in 2012 that “Quite frankly, the Pakistani military and leaders that give safe haven to the mass murderer of Americans [Osama bin Laden] should not expect to be treated with respect,” according to an Al Jazeera article. Another Congressman, Louie Gohmert, suggested during a 2012 video interview that the U.S. should look at breaking up Pakistan, starting with Balochistan, as a strategy to help U.S. troops who were then still occupying Afghanistan: “Let’s talk about creating a Balochistan in the southern part of Pakistan. They’ll stop the IEDs and all of the weaponry coming into Afghanistan, and we got a shot to win over there,” reported Al Jazeera.

Pakistan has been accused of supporting terrorism and faces a tightening noose of financial controls and sanctions through the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The U.S. practices financial warfare against allies and enemies alike. As an ally quickly moving toward becoming an American enemy, Pakistan is not likely to escape these financial sanctions.

What has put Pakistan fully in the opposing camp to the United States is Pakistan’s relationship with China, its so-called “all-weather ally.” And the symbol of that relationship is perhaps the cornerstone of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship of which is the Gwadar port in Balochistan. Writer and political analyst Andrew Korybko has argued that Pakistan is the target of a U.S. hybrid war, one focused on the CPEC and Balochistan, and that Pakistan has been the target of this war since 2015. He told me that Pakistan is now trying to change course from the American iron fist: “Efforts are being made [in Pakistan] to invest more in the region’s infrastructure, both physical and social. Locals feel left out of the country’s recent growth and want a larger share of the wealth that’s derived from their resource-rich and geostrategically positioned region.” Pakistan’s lighter approach, he said, will “be put to the test in Balochistan in the coming future.”

With a growing presence in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, BRI deals often involve Chinese banks financing the construction of infrastructure projects in these regions, which are led by Chinese companies, with loans sometimes paid back directly in natural resources such as minerals or petroleum. As former Liberian Minister of Public Works Gyude Moore explained to an audience at the University of Chicago, these loans by the Chinese banks are often rescheduled when they become due. The BRI is based on the premise that the path to prosperity for poor countries is through win-win solutions—trade deals in which the economically stronger party (China in all cases) does not interfere with the internal politics of the weaker party or country. This means that for all the business being done in the CPEC, the resolution of the Balochistan conflict remains solely Pakistan’s responsibility. China’s approach to separatism within its own borders, in Xinjiang, has been different from the U.S. (or Pakistan’s or India’s) counterinsurgency approach: as opposed to enforced disappearances, assassinations, and military operations, the cornerstones of China’s counterinsurgency approach have been vocational training, “re-education” camps, and poverty alleviation.

Because of the comprehensive demonization of China’s approach by the Western media, China’s programs in Xinjiang have no prestige and are not seen as a model to be followed by any other country. But for the resolution of the issues in Balochistan, viewed by many as “Asia’s Next Headache,” is a path based on peace and development possible?

Hoodbhoy outlined his thoughts on the minimum elements required for improving the situation in the province: “The key to Pakistan’s stability does not lie in making the army’s fist yet harder or peddling hard varieties of religion in an attempt to contain nationalist discontent. Instead, it must be found in sharply limiting the power of the federation, sharing power between provinces, equitably distributing resources, and giving Pakistan’s various cultures and languages their due. In the long run, only a system where all [provinces and regions] have a stake can survive and prosper.”

The urgent need of the moment, however, is to turn the heat down in Balochistan. How to cool Balochistan off? I asked Baloch activist and writer Shah Jahan Baloch about what Pakistan should do immediately to dial the conflict down. He came back to me with an extensive list. On the human rights front, the bare minimum includes the release of all missing persons; criminal cases against those who have murdered civilians and activists whether they are in the armed forces or not; the withdrawal of the Frontier Corps and army and its replacement with civil administration and law enforcement; and peace negotiations with the Baloch nationalist parties with international mediation. On the economic side, the army needs to release its control of border trade with Iran and Afghanistan and replace it with ordinary customs authority; fishing and water rights need to be demilitarized; and so, too, do educational institutions and elections. If a long-term solution based on developmentalism is to work, demilitarization must precede it.

This article was produced by Globetrotter.

Justin Podur is a Toronto-based writer and a writing fellow at Globetrotter. You can find him on his website at podur.org and on Twitter @justinpodur. He teaches at York University in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change.

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