- This article is about the region known as Balochistan. For the Pakistani province, see Balochistan (Pakistan). For the Iranian part of Balochistan, see Balochistan (Iran).
Balochistan or Baluchistan is an arid region located in the Iranian Plateau in Southwest Asia, between Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The area is named after the numerous Baluch (or Baloch, Balouch) tribes, an Iranian people, who moved into the area from the west around 1000 A.D. All natives are considered Balochi even if they do not speak the Baluchi language; Pashto, Persian, and Brahui languages are also spoken in the region. The southern part of Balochistan is known as Makran.
Landscape
Balochistan's landscape is composed of barren, rugged mountains and fertile land. During the summer, some regions of Balochistan are the hottest in Pakistan. Most of the land is barren, and it is generally sparsely populated. In the south lies the desert through which Alexander the Great passed with great difficulty.
History
Before the arrival of the Baluch, the region was populated by Pashtuns and Brahuis. The Pashtuns are now concentrated in Sibi, Bolan, Quetta, Pishin, Killa Abdullah, Killa Saifullah, Loralai, Zhob, Ziarat and Harnai. Many Brahuis live in Kalat.
Pakistani Baluchistan was conquered by the British Empire on October 1, 1887. In 1948, it became part of Pakistan. Since then, separatist groups in the province have engaged in limited but armed tribal uprisings, first led by Prince Karim Khan, and later Nawab Nowroz Khan in 1968. A more serious insurgency was led by the Marri and Mengal tribes from 1973-1977. These tribes wished to see a "Greater Balochistan" - a single independent state ruled under tribal jirgas, a tribal system of government. In 2005 there was another uprising aimed at independence, but it failed due to a lack of support and sympathy from the local people.
Accession problem of 1948
The ruler of the Khanate of Balochistan, Mir Ahmad Yar Khan, is said to have been coerced by Jinnah to sign the document of accession by Balochi separatists. Critics dispute such claims as unrealistic and contrary to popular support for Jinnah, as the Khan of Kalat ruled even after Jinnah's death with the support of the government. However, The Khan was not an absolute monarch, and was required to act under the provisions of the Rawaj, the Baloch constitution.
The incorporation of the Khanate resulted in a few anti-Pakistani rallies and meetings in certain areas of the Khanate. To subdue the anti-Pakistani sentiment, the Army of Pakistan was placed on alert. The Government of Pakistan decided to take complete control of the administration of Balochistan (Khanate) on April 15, 1948. The A.G.G. in Balochistan conveyed the orders of Mohammad Ali Jinnah that the status of the Khanate, "would revert back to what it was during the preceding British rule." Besides the policy of the central government of Pakistan towards the Khanate, Jinnah also refused to allow autonomous status for Balochistan.
In April of 1948, several political leaders from Balochistan, including Mohammad Amin Khosa and Abdul Samad Achakzai, were arrested. The Anjuman-i-Watan Party Pro-congress movement, headed by Samad Achakzai, was declared illegal.
Prince Abdul Karim Khan
The refusal to grant autonomy and the continued existence of the "Sandeman system" resulted in civic unrest. On the night of May 16, 1948, Prince Abdul Karim Khan, the younger brother of the Khan, began leading a national liberation movement.
He invited the leading members of nationalist political parties, (the Kalat State National Party, the Baloch League, and the Baloch National Workers Party) to join him in creating an independent "Greater Balochistan". Apart from his political motives, the prince was a member of the royal family and the former governor of the Makran province; the recognition of Sardar Bay Khan Gichki as a ruler of Makran by Pakistan upset him.
Beginning of the movement and political allies
Prince Karim decided to move to Afghanistan in order to obtain support and to organize the movement. he wrote to the Khan on June 28, 1948, explaining his decision.
Some of the prominent political leaders who joined him were Mohamed Hussain Anka, the secretary of the Baloch League and the editor of Weekly Bolan Mastung • Malik Saeed Dehwar, the secretary of the Kalat State National Party • Qadir Bakhsh Nizamami, a member of the Baloch League and prominent members of the Communist Party, Sind-Balochistan branch, and Maulwi Mohd Afzal, a member of Jamiat-Ulm-e-Balochistan.
Plan of action
The Baloch Mujahideen (Baloch Holy Warriors), as they called themselves, entered Afghanistan and encamped at Sarlath in the Afghan province of Kandahar. During their stay, the Baloch militants sent messages to Mir Ghulam Faruq of the Rudini tribe, Sardar Mehrab Khan, Sardar Mir Jumma, Mir Wazir Khan Sanjrani of Chagai, and several other Baloch chiefs of Eastern and Western Balochistan, asking them to join in the armed struggle. They also ran a "truth revealing campaign" in Balochistan, aimed at the educating the locals in warfare and making them into a cohesive fighting force, and tried to obtain international support, particularly from countries who were supportive of self-determination.
Armed struggle
Besides campaigning for cultural and religious unity, the prince also organized the Baloch Mujahedeen, consisting of the ex-soldiers and officers of the Khanate’s army, under the prince's command.
The prince asked for help with recruitment, promising stature under his rule in return for successful recruiting. A person recruiting 100 men was offered the rank of a major and a person recruiting 50 men was entitled to the rank of captain. The Baloch liberation army had a secret agency called Jannisar (devotee), whose duty was to provide information, destroy Pakistan's communication system, and search for traitors. In addition to this, there was a subordinate, secret unit known as Janbaz (darer), who acted as secret police and killed suspected traitors. The headquarters of the agency was known as Bab-i-Aali (secret war-office) and was headed by Karim. The total strength of the Jannisar was recorded to be 30, while the strength of Janbaz is unknown.
Soviets and Afghans
However, the Prince did not start a war of liberation because of Afghanistan’s refusal and the silence of the Soviet Union concerning assistance. During his stay in Sarlath, Prince Karim appointed Malik Saeed and Qadir Bakhsh Nizamani as his emissaries to contact the Afghan government and to approach other embassies in order to get moral and material support. According to Nizamani, the Afghan authorities refused to provide any sort of help and told them either to reside as political refugees at Kandahar or to return. The Afghan authorities also refused to permit the rebel group to operate from Afghan soil. Nizamami informed the Iranian Embassy of the Baloch demands as well. Iranian diplomats showed their concern but did not offer any assistance, though they indicated their desire to provide asylum to the rebel group in Iran. The last hope of the Prince’s representative was the Soviet Embassy. The Soviet diplomats listened to Nizamami carefully. Though they did not give any assurances, they did promise to inform Moscow.
The Afghans, since the rise of Ahmad Shah, had treated Balochistan as a vassal state until the Baloch-Afghan war in 1758, when an agreement of ‘non-interference’ was signed between the parties. In the 19th century, Afghan rulers like Shuja and Amir Abdur-Rehman desired to occupy Balochistan.
In 1947, the Afghan government demanded the creation of Pashtunistan. Stretching from Chitral and Gilgit to the Baloch coast in the Arabian Sea.The Afghan Government called Balochistan ‘South Pashtunistan’ in statements and publications. The Afghan expansionist policy reflected the economic considerations of a landlocked state. At the same time, it was impossible for the Afghan government to neglect its own national interests and to support the movement of an independent Greater Balochistan,which claimed the Baloch region in Afghanistan. Stalin did not pursue Lenin’s policy in the East. Moreover, the government of the Soviet Union was not ready to annoy the Afghans or the British, opponents of an independent Balochistan.
Prince Karim's legitimacy outlawed
Meanwhile the Prince and his party were regarded as a rebel group by a Farman royal order issued by the Khan on 24 May 1948, stating that no connection of any sort with the Prince and his party should be maintained nor should they be helped with rations, and that if any member of the rebel group committed an offence, he would be punished. The government of Pakistan moved the army to the military posts of Punjab, Chaman chashme, and Rastri near the Afghan borders, aiming to control the rebels’ rations, which were being sent by the pro-liberation elements, as well as to control their activities or any attempt to invade. The Pakistan authorities confirmed two clashes between the army and the liberation forces.
To avoid popular unrest in Balochistan, the Khan sent his maternal uncles, Hajji Ibrahim Khan and Hajji Taj Mohammed, to Sarlath to bring Prince Karim back to Kalat. Khan made his return conditional. The Prince and the liberation movement failed to achieve internal and external support.
The Baloch nationalists were divided into two groups. Anqa and Malik Saeed favored armed struggle in the form of guerilla war, while Mir Ghous Bux Bizenjo and other prominent leaders wished to resolve all issues with dialogue.
The return of Karim
The Prince was forced to return to the Khanate and negotiate for his demands peacefully. On 8 July 1948, when the news of the Prince’s arrival reached Kalat, the Prime Minister, Mr.Fell, accompanied by a Kalat State Force, went to meet the Prince at Earboi to deliver the Khan’s message.
His capture
Abdul Karim entered Balochistan with Afghan help and organized a rebellion against Pakistan in the area of Jallawan with the aid of Mir Gohar Khan Zahrri, an influential tribal leader of the Zarkzai clan. Further, it is stated that Major General Akbar Khan, who was in charge of the Seventh Regiment, was ordered to attack the insurgents and forced them to surrender. Prince Karim and his 142 followers were arrested and imprisoned in the Mach and Quetta jails.
A detailed and interesting statement comes from General Akbar Khan, in his article published in the daily ‘Dawn’,dated 14 August 1960, under the title "Early reminiscences of a soldier". General Akbar confirms that there was a plan to invade the Khanate and describes the clash between the Pakistan army and the liberation force headed by Prince Karim. Akbar says that Jinnah had issued instructions that this news should not be published in the press.
Trial
After the arrest of the Prince and his party, the A.G.G. gave an order for an inquiry, to be conducted by Khan Sahib Abdullah Khan, the Additional District Magistrate Quetta. He submitted his report on 12 September 1948. His report was based on the activities of the Prince and upon the letters and documents published by the liberation force. After the inquiry, R.K.Saker the District Magistrate at Quetta, appointed a special Jirga (official council of elders) consisting of the following persons:
1) Khan Bahador Sahibzada, M.Ayub Khan Isakhel, Pakhtoon from Pishin;
2) K.B. Baz Mohd Khan. Jogezai, Pakhtoon from Loralai;
3) Abdul Ghaffar Khan Achakzai, Pakhtoon from Pishin;
4) S.B. Wadera Noor Muhammad Khan, a Baloch Chief from Kalat;
5) Syed Aurang Shah from Kalat;
6) Sheikh Baz Gul Khan. Pakhtoon from Zhob;
7) Wahab Khan Panezai, Pakhtoon from Sibi;
8) Sardar Doda Khan Marri, Baloch from Sibi.
The Jirga was instructed to study the circumstances and events which led to the revolt and was asked to give its recommendations to the District Magistrate. On 10 November 1948, the Jirga heard the testimony of the accused and gave its recommendations to the D.M. on 17 November 1948, suggesting the delivery of the Prince in Loralai at the pleasure of the Government of Pakistan and various other penalties. The D.M., in his order dated 27 November 1948, differed with the opinion of the Jirga and sentenced the Prince to ten years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5000. Other members of his party were given various sentences and fines. Thus the Pakistan government crushed the first armed struggle by Balochi insurgents.
Second Baloch National Resistance of 1968
Nawab Nauroz or "Nowroz Khan", commonly known by Balochs as Babu Nowroz, was the head of the Zarakzai tribes of Balochistan. He started an armed struggle against Pakistan. He later surrendered to Lt.Col Tikka Khan (later General of the Pakistani army) when he came to negotiate with the army. He and his followers, including his sons and nephews, were taken to a Hyderabad jail, where his sons and nephews were executed for armed rebellion against the State. Due to Nowroz' age he was held in prison, where he later passed away at the age of 90.
Balochistan Rebellion During the 70s
This was an infamous period in Pakistan history and second only to the Civil War of 1971 and loss of East Pakistan (Bangladesh). The National Awami Party led by “nationalists” Ghaus Bux Bizenjo, Sardar Ataullah Mengal, Khair Bux Marri, Nawab Akbar khan Bugti and Khan Wali Khan, dominated Balochistan and the NWFP. At the time, even the Jamiat i Ulema i Islam of Maulana Mufti Mahmud (father of Maulana Fazlur Rehman) thought fit to join hands with the nationalists to espouse the provincial cause.
Emboldened by the stand taken by Sheikh Mujib, the Baloch and Pashtun nationalists demanded their ‘provincial rights’ from Mr. Bhutto in exchange for approving the 1973 constitution consensually. But while Mr. Bhutto conceded the NWFP and Balochistan to a NAP-JUI coalition, he refused to play ball with the provincial governments led by chief minister Ataullah Mengal in Quetta and Mufti Mahmud in Peshawar. Tensions erupted.
Within six months, the federal government had sacked the two provincial governments, arrested the two chief ministers, two governors and forty-four MNAs and MPAs, obtained an order from the Supreme Court banning the NAP, and charged everyone with high treason to be tried by a specially constituted Hyderabad Tribunal of handpicked judges. In time, a nationalist insurgency erupted and sucked the army into the province, pitting the Baloch tribal middle classes against Islamabad.
The 1970s revolt of the Baloch, which manifested itself in the form of an armed struggle against the Pakistan army in Balochistan, was provoked by federal impatience, high handedness and undemocratic constitutional deviation. Mir Hazar Khan Marri led the Baluch liberation movement under an organization known as "Baluchistan People's Liberation Front", or BPLF. The BPLF was forced to move to Afghanistan along with thousands of his supporters; today Baluch fighters are fighting under the names BLA, BLM, BLO, etc.
Modern Pakistan province of Baluchistan comprises a part of Baluchistan. In Iran, there is the Sistan and Baluchistan province. The irony was that Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti served to help the federal government when he was appointed as Governor of Balochistan by Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto throughout the time of the insurgency and spoke not a word in favor of Baloch rights or provincial autonomy. The greater irony was that the insurgency came to an end following the army coup of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq against the civilian government of Mr. Bhutto.
Soon thereafter, General Zia unfolded plans to desensitize the alienated Baloch and Pashtun leadership by a multi-faceted strategy, aimed at co-opting the leaders into office while providing jobs and funds in the federal government to the alienated and insecure tribal middle classes. More significantly, he created maximum political space for the mullah parties in the NWFP and Balochistan so that they could be galvanized in the jihad against the USSR in neighboring Afghanistan.
Divided, fatigued and shorn of ideological moorings or avowed enemies like Mr. Bhutto, the Baloch “movement” melted into memory over the next two decades.
Revival of Struggle for Provincial Rights
The single most critical macro factor is the social and electoral engineering initiated by the military regime of President Pervez Musharaf. By sidelining the mainstream PPP and PMLN parties and their natural “progressive” allies like the ANP, BNP and others in favor of the mullahs of the Jama’at i Islami and Jamiat i Ulema i Islam, General Musharraf has alienated the old non-religious tribal leadership as well as the new secular urban middle classes of Balochistan who see no economic or political space for themselves in the new military-mullah dispensation.
Similarly, by undermining the cause of provincial autonomy at the altar of local and federal government, the military regime has threatened the very roots of the constitutional consensus of 1973 enshrined in the Baloch consciousness. Balochistan remains a backwater province, infested by Taliban-type mullahs and corrupt, opportunist politicians and tribal chiefs, all beholden to the military regime in Islamabad.
The “Baloch Liberation Army”, comprised of a few bandits under tribal and middle class command, is conducting terrorist operations. Gwadar is an obvious target.
Military Cantonments Issue
The military cantonments planned at Gwadar, Dera Bugti and Kohlu (the capital of the Marri tribal lands) are viewed as outposts of repression and control, not development. The corrupt Frontier Corps is thoroughly hated and despised as a federal instrument of oppression. With the mullahs rampaging in much of Balochistan and defying the writ of the government, the rise of incipient armed nationalism poses a grave challenge to the stability and security of Pakistan.
Army helicopters strafed and bombed a strip of land between Turbat and Gwadar in Makran district where Baloch insurgents who had rocketed Gwadar earlier were thought to be holed up. In retaliation, an army truck was ambushed in Khuzdar last week, leaving five soldiers dead. Later the chief minister of the province, Jam Yusuf, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt on his life.
Two days ago, the government retaliated by registering cases of murder against 12 people, including a former chief minister of the province, Sardar Akhtar Mengal s/o Sardar Ataullah Mengal (also a former chief minister who was sacked and arrested in his time), and the secretary general of his Balochistan Nationalist Party. The federal interior minister, Mr. Faisal Saleh Hayat, has warned the agitating Baloch tribesmen that the government is poised to launch a "crash program" against ‘subversive elements’ in the province.
A hastily formed four-party Baloch alliance, led by the Bugti and Mengal groups in Quetta, has condemned the spate of arrests of Baloch nationalists in Turbat, Gwadar, Kalat, Dera Bugti, Kohlu and Nushki. They have been joined by the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (PONM). Together they are accusing Islamabad of having launched an unannounced military operation in Balochistan in which over 200 activists of the various nationalist parties have been unjustly detained.
Old Grievances
Causes of grievances in Balochistan are twofold. On one side there are tribal leaders who don’t want any development in area, and on the other side is the government, which is reluctant to go against tribal leaders. Sui gas has never benefited the people of Balochistan. Huge royalties are paid to Sardar of Sui, but they fail to reach the poor of the area. Gwadar is in the clutches of a land-grab mafia of Pakistan. The federal government earns billions from gas in the province but gives only a fraction of that back for development, and not even this is properly spent; provincial autonomy promised in the 1973 constitution is non-existent, etc.
The fact is that Balochistan remains a neglected backwater of Pakistan due to internal and external politics. Its politics have been ideologized and factionalized by federal interference and meddling in pursuit of dubious strategic regional interests. Its drought-stricken pastoral economy cannot even provide for its small population. This state of affairs has lasted fifty-seven years. No federal government has ever thought of bringing development to Balochistan, and talk of tribal chiefs obstructing progress is being called nonsense by the Balochs, but this reality shows up every now and then. Past neglect has now strengthened the ranks of the nationalists and increased their clout.
The danger in Balochistan is also twofold. The nascent but alienated middle classes in the few towns of Balochistan are now rallying behind the nationalists and accept the sardars' spearheading PONM as genuine leaders. At the same time, the developmental lag in the province is sufficient to substantiate the anti-center stance of PONM. That is why any military action in the province will completely lack local support. Locals may support military action if it is against sardars who are eating their resources. But it is not possible, as the federal government doesn’t want to create any more problems in Balochistan. But even the PONM is not representing whole Balochistan, as its ideology is very narrow, and its leader never delivered when needed.
Some intellectuals of Balochistan even blame their own so-called true representatives like PONM, saying that their policy of confrontation leads to the problems. They keep rejecting any progress for their own politics and call themselves leaders. There are only two or three tribes who are really against the federal government; other tribes (which number more than 100) are with progress.
The other destabilizing factor relates to the ongoing battle against the Taliban-Al Qaeda combine. The Pashtuns in Balochistan also have serious problems with the federal government's policy on the Pakistan-Afghan frontier. This could be troublesome, since Pashtun nationalism has also been responsible for the internationally reported presence of the Taliban in the province.
Critics are of the view that a port would benefit Balochista] the most. But nationalist thinks that this will loosen their grip on province.
Solutions
Many problems which plague Balochistan are due to its tribal society. The tribal leader usually holds the power. All development projects are first passed through the tribal leader, and if he thinks that it is dangerous to their leadership, he doesn’t allow it to materialize.
The resources which are transferred to Balochistan are usually handed to tribal leaders, as they are owners of all the land the tribe has. It becomes their responsibility to spend it. They, in many cases, spend money on themselves or on their families, which starves the majority of the people.
Recent Development Projects
Some development projects are underway in Balochistan, including the Gwadar deep sea port. This will bring prosperity and employment to the Balochistani people. The Coastal Highway was constructed on the coast line between Gwadar and Karachi, and has reduced traveling time considerably.
External links
- Balochistan District Maps,information and Background
- Mehrgarh (Balochistan)
- http://www.balochvoice.com
- http://www.balochistan.org.pk
- http://www.balochistan.org
- ISOWBA (Intelligence and Special Operations Wing of Balochistan Army
- Balochistan insurgency of 1973-1977
- Baloch ethnic group
- Baloch Origin
- Baloch Speakers By Region
- Balochistani.com
- Baloch Unity