Dr. Forqan Uddin Ahmed :
The landscape of Baluchistan is comprised of an area over half a million square kilometers in the southeastern part of the Iran plateau, south of the central deserts and the Helmand river. The Baluchs are the main ethnic group in the province, followed by Pashtun’s. The majority of the inhabitants are Sunni Muslims. A small number of Shia’s and Hindus also reside in the province. The province is divided between three countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. The largest part of Baluchistan belongs to Pakistan.
In spite of the natural resources in the Baluchistan province including chromites, fluorite, marble, gold, gas, iron and petroleum, which are of prominent importance, it has remained one of the poorest provinces in Pakistan. The province has been marginalized throughout history. The history of the conflict in the province goes back to the independence of Pakistan in 1947. The first conflict arose in 1948, when Kalat, a part of the current Baluchistan, chose independence. This was followed by further conflict in 1958-59 and 1963-69. These conflicts were about the One Unit policy and military bases in Baluchistan.
The conflict in the Baluchistan province is an ongoing conflict between the inhabitants of the Baluchistan province and the government of Pakistan. This paper will address the unstable politics and ethnicity, resource and development issues, human rights, Islamic extremism and terrorist groups, foreign support, and education as the main root causes of the conflict. Centrally driven and controlled economic projects, such as the Gwadar deep-sea port, that do not benefit locals but raise fears that the resulting influx of economic migrants could make the Baloch a minority in their homeland.
The latest round of conflict started in early 2000s as a small group of militants began targeting security forces. The conflict intensified after a tribal leader, Akbar Bugti, was killed in a battle with security forces. Since then, the demands of some nationalists have morphed from political autonomy to all-out independence. But the majority of the population does not support the hardliners and continues to back local political parties, which want to use legislature to address day-to-day grievances.
Experts say most of the nationalists had come to believe that they could fight for political rights within Pakistan. Port of Gwadar is run by a Chinese operator. The province features prominently in Beijing’s multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative. Separatists have targeted Chinese engineers working on different projects and last year even attacked the Chinese consulate in Karachi. A heavy-handed approach by the state, including the Pakistan army’s crackdown, is often blamed for pushing young Baloch towards the separatist groups. Security forces are accused of killing and dumping the bodies of suspected militants without fair trial. For years, the dead bodies of missing Baloch activists have surfaced in different parts of the province. Foreign interference, shifting tribal loyalties and the presence of religious extremists have compounded the problem.
The Baloch people have never had their required representation in politics, including the military. Sometimes they were not able to complete their tenure in the provincial council of Baluchistan due to political exclusion tendency of the central government. This exacerbated the ethnic conflict in the province with the goal of autonomy or possibly independence. Unequal distribution of resource revenues remains one of the major sources of the problem. The current developmental issues are the construction of Gwadar Port as a major transportation hub with Dubai. This project was announced in 2001 and is being implemented by the Chinese. The Balochs have been totally excluded from the construction of the project. The Baluchistan area is also the hub for the Iran- Pakistan- India gas pipeline and has been targeted several times by the Baloch’s militia to show their disagreement with the government in its exploitation of the province.
It is reported that from 2003 to 2008 more than 8000 people were kidnapped by Pakistani security forces in the province. Cases of torture have also been reported. Bodies are found with physical evidences of torture such as burn marks, broken limbs, nails pulled out and drill holes in the head. A number of extremist groups such as Al Qaeda, Quetta Shura e Taliban and Tahreek Taliban are active in Baluchistan province. The operations of these groups have complicated the conflict situation. The strategic location of Baluchistan and the lack of a functioning economy in this province have deeply helped these groups to carry out their organized crimes with a religious label.
The government of Pakistan has accused the Indian government and occasionally the United States for supporting the Baloch movement to destabilize the country. Both countries have rejected these claims. Bugti, the prominent leader of Baluchistan, stated that he would accept aid from India, Iran, and Afghanistan to help in the defense of Baluchistan. The role of Iraq and Iran are also important in the case of Baluchistan because of their support to the Shia Muslims. In February 2010, the Jundullah leader was captured in Iran who said that the United States had promised to provide them with military equipment and a base in Afghanistan. This could be seen as a positive affirmation of the claims of Pakistan against the United States.
Education is also one of the main factors in the Baluchistan conflict. The Balochis allege that their right to education is neglected. Although the Pakistani government is seen to have taken steps by doubling scholarship numbers in 2010 onwards, which can be seen as a way forward towards development, the Baloch nationals claim that the Pakistan government is neglecting their duties in terms of providing education, and that not enough is being done towards the development of educational institutions.
However, other developments indicate that the relationship between the two countries may not be as good as the aforementioned statements suggest. In the autumn of last year, Pakistan was facing a severe balance of payment crisis: Pakistan only had foreign exchange reserves sufficient to finance two months’ worth of imports. In these circumstances, Prime Minister Imran Khan traveled to China to ask for a bailout package. However, China refused an urgent bailout package for Pakistan, and stated that further negotiations would be required before reaching an agreement to financially bailout Pakistan.
Subsequently, Pakistan was left with no choice but to ask Saudi Arabia for a bailout package, which the oil-rich kingdom agreed to provide. The conflict in Baluchistan is protracted and extremely complex. Basically, the root causes of the conflict are both historical and political. Besides this, the social factors such as ethnicity and religion have also played vital role in the continuance of the conflict. Lack of representation at the decision-making level and low quotas for political representation are the prominent factors that have added more miseries to the ongoing problems, thus spiraling this conflict out of control.
Restoration of peace is the major problem in Balochistan. It’s hard to find out a single family who didn’t lose its relatives in the war on terror. They are much affected from the menace of terrorism and government has launched many operations but the issue still remains. To counter the uncertain security situation in the province, Imran Khan is required to bring major shift in his foreign policy generally toward Afghanistan and India especially. The discriminatory behavior on the part of media in Balochistan is disgraceful. The media tries to conceal the fact. It only reports mega events such as bomb blasts or target killing of soldiers, but never reports the issue of missing persons.
To discuss the Baloch issue on media is considered against the integrity and sovereignty of the country. The media should be allowed to discuss the issues of Baloch at national level without any fear. Baloch believes that the natural resources, like gas and oil, are used across the country except Balochistan. Prime Minister Imran Khan should make a commission to solve the issue of their natural resources. Mr khan must listen to the voice of common people and play his role for the betterment of the province. He should work for prosper and progress of the Baloch people.
(Dr. Forqan Uddin Ahmed, writer, researchers and columnist)
