By: Aamir Latif
Balochistan, the home of ethnic Balochs, is not only important for Pakistan, but for regional powers as well for many reasons. The southwestern province, which covers 42 per cent of the Pakistani total land, touches the borders of war-hacked Afghanistan from north, and Iran from west. It is one of the two key supply routes for the US-led foreign forces fighting in neighboring Afghanistan. To South, lies the Arabian Sea.
The province is unofficially divided into two main parts. Northern Balochistan, which touches Southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan, is inhibited by Pashtuns, while southern Balochistan is dominant by Balochs.
The total population of the province is almost 8 million, of which Balochs and Pashtuns make up 40 per cent each. Out of the remaining 20 per cent inhabitants, 18 per cent are Punjabis, Hazaras, Urdu speaking and other Muslim communities, while 2 per cent of the population consists of Hindus, Christians, and Sikhs. Balochistan’s population represents merely 5 per cent of the total 180 million population of Pakistan.
The present geography of the province is the result of a demarcation carried out in 1970 by the then military dictator General Yayaha Khan. Before that, Balochistan did not exist.
Balochistan is the merger of Qallat and Makran states, the two Baloch regions, and the Pashtun-dominated Northern parts, which historically had been part of Afghanistan.
The arid, and mountaineer Balochistan is a mineral-rich area, and the second largest natural gas producer in Pakistan. However, it is the poorest province of Pakistan despite having huge resources of minerals, silver and gas.
Striding on Arabian Sea, Balochistan is considered the easiest gateway to Gulf and Central Asian States, the two largest trade and economic zones in the world. This extraordinary edge has turned the province into a battleground for regional and world powers like Iran, China, India and the United States.
Militancy
Currently, the province is in grip of secular militancy, launched by angry Baloch nationalists, who want an Azad (independent) Balochistan, because of what they call a history of indifferent attitude towards Balochs, and looting of their resources by other provinces, mainly by Punjab, the country’s most populated and richest province.
The fresh wave of militancy erupted in 2007 following the murder of a senior Baloch leader and a former governor and chief minister of the province, Nawab Akbar Bugti in an army operation.
Balochistan has had a long history of military operations. The first military operation was carried out in 1948, just a year after independence, when the then ruler of Qallat had refused to merge his state into a new Muslim state. The second and third military operations were launched in the 1950’s, and 1970’s respectively.
Although, a sense of anger and deprivation had always been there, they did not turn into insurgent during last two decades, because of the involvement of nationalist parties, including Nawab Bugti’s party, into mainstream politics.
Following Bugti’s murder, the fourth military operation is going on the Baloch-dominated areas of Balochistan against nationalist militants, who reciprocate the army with ambushes and remote control bombings. Hundreds of civilians, mostly Punjabis, have also been killed by militants in the ongoing wave of violence. Militants often target Punjabi civilians, who have been part of Balochistan population for centuries, because their language-fellows consist of 57 per cent of the Pakistani army.
Apart from the separatist movement, Balochistan is also facing a growing specter of sectarian terrorism. Sunni and Shiite militant groups have been involved in sectarian violence against each other for the last five years.
The Hazara people, who are of northern Afghanistan origins, and follow the Shiite sect, have been the prime victim of sectarian violence during the last few years as they could easily be recognized by their typical Mongolian features.
Hundreds of people from both sides, mostly Shiites, have been killed in sectarian violence occurring mainly in the suburban parts of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan.
Jundallah
Jundallah is a militant group, reportedly based on that Pakistan-Iran border fighting for Sunni rights and a united Sunni Balochistan (Pakistani and Iranian Balochistan).
The group has claimed responsibility for attacks against government forces in Sistan-Balochistan Province, the home of members of the Sunni Baloch ethnic group, who are a minority in Shiite-dominated Iran.
Abdul-Malik Rigi, the founder of Jundallah was hanged in a Tehran prison in June 2010 after the revolutionary court found him guilty of 79 criminal charges, including terrorism.
Rigi was arrested by Iranian security forces as he was flying over the Persian Gulf en route from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan.
Rigi’s younger brother Abdul-Hamid Rigi was captured in Pakistan in 2008 and executed in Iran just a month before his elder brother’s execution.
Iran claims that Jundallah has established various safe havens along the Pakistani side of the border. The Islamic Republic blames the United States for patronizing Jundallah in order to destabilize the country.
Northern parts of Balochistan are, by and large, peaceful as far as sectarian violence and target killings are concerned. However attacks on NATO convoys have become an order of the day.
Hundreds of NATO containers en route to southern Afghanistan have been attacked and charred by pro-Taliban militants in different parts of Balochistan during the last few years.
Gawadar Port
Gawadar, the southeastern city of Balochistan, is located at the apex of Arabian Sea and at the mouth of Gulf of Oman. A former colony of Oman, Gawadar was bought by Pakistan in 1957.
Gawadar deep sea port, which was officially completed in 2007, was seen as the future hub of trade and oil imports to and from Gulf and Central Asian States. However the port remains dysfunctional due to security reasons, rift over cargo, and handling rights.
China was the first regional power, which recognized the importance of Gawadar port, which could be a trade hub and transit for its oil imports.
China has invested a sum of 450 million dollars in the construction of Gawadar port. However, it has not so far earned the desired results due to armed attacks on its engineers and workers operating on the port.
Various Chinese engineers were killed in terrorist attacks in Gawadar and other parts of the country in 2007 and 2008.
“Certainly, the US, Iran and India are not happy with the development of Gawadar port, and the growing Chinese economic role and dependence on Pakistan”, Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, an associate professor at the international relations department, Quaid-I-Azam International University Islamabad told “Islam Online”.
Gawadar port, which unfortunately has not become functional so far, because of the government’s inability to provide proper security to Chinese engineers and workers, would be a strong competitor to Iran’s Bandar Abbas, and Chabahar ports, which is likely to affect its economic interests, Dr. Jaspal opined.
He said that there are evidences that there is a lot of Indian economic involvement in Chabahar port.
The Pakistani government often blames India for fomenting militancy in Balochistan by supplying arms and funds to separatists through its consulates in Kandahar and other parts of neighboring Afghanistan. However, India denies this charge.
Dr. Shameem Akhtar, a Karachi-based senior security and international relations analyst sees a behind-the-curtain US role is hampering the Pakistan-China economic interests in the region.
“Pakistan had awarded the contract for construction of Gawadar port to China against the will of western powers, including America. They were certainly unhappy with that decision”, Dr. Akhtar told “Islam Online”.
“But, they later pressurized General Musharraf (former military dictator) to award the cargo and handling contract to a Singaporean company, knowingly that Singapore is completely under US influence”, he observed.
This, he said, created an ill-will situation between Pakistan and China.
“If this contract had been awarded to any US or European company, no engineer or worker would have been killed”, he contended.
Dr. Akhtar believes that the US wants Gawadar port to remain dysfunctional, or at least not to allow China to use it for military and economic purposes.
“China can enter the Indian Ocean through Gawadar port, which the US never wants”, he maintained.
