Nationalism in Pakistan: A case study of Baloch Nationalism
1. Introduction
“To focus upon culture, ideology, identity, class or modernization is to neglect the fundamental point that nationalism is, above and beyond all else, about politics and that politics is about power. Power, in the modern world, is principally about control of the state” (Breuilly 1994, p. 1)
In this statement, Breuilly explains the fundamental features of ethnonationalism and how it can lead to the urge to dominate and then control the state. This statement also helps explain Baloch nationalism and why it has gained popularity over time. In the case of Balochistan, the Pakistani government has many times ignored the rights of the Baloch communities and this has then led to an increased amount of loathing towards the government. Moreover，this has been coupled with a lack of communication between the Baloch people and the government, unfair allocation of resources, low education, destabilization caused by external actors, and the Pak-China corridor which impacts Balochistan’s traditional industries and lifestyle. In a similar vein to what Breuilly noted, Baloch nationalists who initially started with asking for “provincial autonomy” have now progressed to the demand of “total independence” for Balochistan (Bakhtiar 2009).
Since the formation of Pakistan, the five major ethnic groups in Pakistan i.e., Punjabis, Sindhis, Pakhtuns, Bengalis, and Balochs have contested the state’s legitimacy. Out of these five groups, the Bengalis have been successful so far in the creation of their separate homeland on March 26, 1971. As Pakistan has witnessed the inception of many ethnic-nationalist movements in the post-colonial era, these have then led to encouraging the nationalist movements by the Balochs. The precedent of past ethnic-nationalist movements and the successful formation of a separate state by Bengalis has greatly nurtured the escalating feeling of separatism and finally the sentiments for an “independent Balochistan” (Mahdi 2009).
To curb the rising sentiments of separatism amongst the majority of the Baloch population, a remedy of grievances needs to be sought because currently, Baloch nationalism is at a point where there is virtually no chance that the problems arising from the current resurgence of Baloch nationalism can be swept aside. The antidote for these grievances can mainly materialize through established state institutions and points of communication to address this issue.
In light of the above discussion, the focus of this research paper is to shed light on the goals of Baloch nationalism and the underlying reasons behind this ethnic nationalism in Balochistan. Therefore, my research aims to answer the questions such as: What are the reasons for the discontent of the Balochi people? Is Baloch nationalism a threat to the Pakistani state? Finally, what is the best way forward for bringing peace in the Balochistan region?
My research paper will begin with the significance of the research section in which I will explain how this research will contribute to the past research conducted on this area. Then in the methodology section, I will explain what methods i.e., secondary research I am going to use to answer my research questions. After that, in the literature review section different scholarly sources are mentioned which I have delved in to substantiate my argument. I will then have my discussion section in which I will explain the underlying reasons for the growing wave of Baloch nationalism and whether Baloch nationalism is a threat to the state or not. Finally, the research paper will conclude following a way forward section in which the suitable steps for the government of Pakistan to bring an end to this rising conflict will be analyzed.
1a. Significance of this Research
This research is very important as not many scholars in the past have shed light on Baloch nationalism. This has been due to Balochistan having a stronghold of the military in its region and hence the press never really had enough freedom of speech. Even though some scholars studied this area, their research is mainly theoretical and descriptively vague. Also, I believe my research is singular because it will help the readers to understand the dynamics of Baloch nationalism from a fresh and updated perspective, as well as aid the government with understanding the repercussions of Baloch nationalism and bring an end to this conflict. The way forward section will help the government to see what choices are available to them in light of this ongoing conflict and how this conflict can be resolved because the majority of the population does not want Balochistan to be the next Bangladesh.
My research will also help individuals in taking the Balochistan nationalistic threat seriously because it is important to note that big nationalistic uprisings are not always the result of religion but other important factors that contribute to them. Many Pakistanis believe that religion is a very important factor that unites the people and if all the Pakistanis are Muslims then why would they get disunited and demand a separate nation. As a result, the government and the majority of the Pakistani population take Baloch nationalism lightly and ignore the demands of the Balochs. However, my paper will explain that there have been incidents in the past where although the major religion was the same amongst the masses but the nationalists’ demand led to the disintegration of the country. As a result, Baloch nationalism must be taken seriously.
1b. Methodology
In this research paper, I will examine nationalism in Pakistan and why nationalism problems exist in the country, however, my focus will be on Baloch nationalism. I will make use of extensive secondary sources such as journal articles, books, reports, newspaper articles, interviews, and data published by the government which will help me to gather valuable qualitative data to answer my research questions. However, to remain as focused as possible, I will not be making use of data regarding military coups in the region and the contributing factors to the split of the subcontinent in 1947 and Bangladesh in 1971. As a result, this will help the readers to understand the reasons for the discontent amongst the Balochs in a way in which this issue has not been dealt with before.
2. Literature Review
I want to study the reasons for the discontent of the Balochs which have led to the Baloch nationalists’ uprisings and also analyze whether this nationalism can be considered as a potential threat for the Pakistani state or not. Therefore, to answer my research questions, this paper will look at different scholarly work on the areas namely: defining nationalism, Bengali nationalism, the background of Balochistan, Baloch ethnonationalism, defining terrorism, terrorism caused by Balochistan Liberation Army, and explaining the current situation in Balochistan.
2.1 Key terms: What is Nationalism?
The way nationalism has been defined by scholars has changed over time. For example, according to Gellner (2011), nationalism is defined as “the principle that the boundaries of a culture should coincide with the limits of the state” (p.18) and “nationalism is primarily a political principle, which holds that the political unit and the national unit should be congruent . . . nationalist sentiment is the feeling of anger aroused by the violation of the principle or the feeling of satisfaction aroused by its fulfillment. A nationalist movement is one actuated by a sentiment of this kind” (Gellner 1983). Whereas, Anderson (1983) in the book “Imagined Communities” defines nationalism as unrealistic and abstract imagination because he considers a nation as an “imagined political community that is imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign” (p. 7). Hence, no agreement exists between scholars over the definition of nationalism and they all define nationalism in their ways and different contexts.
There have been both positive and negative views regarding nationalism. Some proponents of nationalism believe that it helps people of a nation to get unified and hence, a safe and better place can be created for the people whereas, some opponents of nationalism believe that nationalism had been the root cause for many disputes and deadly wars in many countries (Warnes 2019).
As Warnes (2019) explained that nationalism can lead to wars and major disputes so in the next section I will give an example of it and explain Bengali nationalism whose root causes are considered by many to be similar to Baloch nationalism.
2.2 Bengali Nationalism
Bengali nationalism led to the separation of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) from Pakistan. This was one of Pakistan’s worst losses in history as Pakistan lost a fundamental part of the country. It is important to understand that the separation of East and West Pakistan was not an event that took place overnight but the roots of this had started to grow over years. The reasons for this are ambiguous as to what were the most important factors leading to the massive unrest in the country. Some believe that it was due to poor leadership or international conspiracy. Others believe that social, cultural, and geographical reasons i.e., language issue, exploitation of the resources of East Pakistan, political and economic disparity, etc were the contributing factors due to which Pakistan had to give up on East Pakistan and a new country named Bangladesh was formed (Zaheer 1990).
On the other hand, Ali (1970) says:
“Inequitable distribution of resources by the central government had isolated the Bengali from the state, especially after 1954, when the overall economic situation deteriorated. Out of the total development fund, East Pakistan’s share was only 22.1% and non-Bengali businessmen, financed by capital from West Pakistan, had set up most manufacturing enterprises. East Pakistan, therefore, gradually became a complete colony; its raw material was used to develop Karachi and the Punjab” (pp. 60–61).
In the light of the above discussion regarding the separation of East Pakistan, Baloch nationalism remains a very critical issue for the Pakistani state because it must work towards preventing such a dreadful event from repeating in the future but this time at the hands of Balochs.
Next, I will move on to explain the background of Balochistan as this paper delves around the rise of nationalism in this region.
2.3 Background of Balochistan
“Balochistan is in the northwestern province of Pakistan, bounded on the east by Sindh, on the south by the Arabian Sea, on the northwest by Iran, and on the northeast by Punjab and north by Afghanistan” (Shah 2008).
The province of Balochistan holds high value for Pakistan for a variety of reasons including geographical location as noted above by Shah. Balochistan’s strategic location is of grave importance because it provides access and land routes to a wide variety of nations. However, geography is not the only reason for the importance of the province but there are other factors as well such as the availability of vast amounts of natural resources in the region such as gold, iron, chromate, copper, etc which makes Balochistan “endowed by nature with the blessing of substantial mineral wealth which need(s) to be explored and developed in true spirit” (GoB). Thus, making Balochistan one of the most important and contested provinces of Pakistan just like Bangladesh.
If we analyze the history of the workforce of Balochistan then we must keep into consideration that Balochs were not initially a part of the tertiary sector and mainly took part in the primary sector such as agriculture for living because they did not possess “any masterly skill in trade and commerce. However, this did not suit an “honorable Baloch” (Dashti 2007, p. 6) and hence this started to change as more and more Balochs made their way into the secondary sector and tertiary sector. Nevertheless, still many Balochs are doing lower-class jobs and are in poverty because they still reside in rural areas and the number of people living in the urban areas is small. The most important contributing factor to this is that the feudal system persists in Balochistan which was although abolished by the Pakistan national assembly in 1976 and the influence of the Sardars (feudal lords) reduced due to it but it is still existent in this province due to poor governance, slow rate of economic progress, and a high rate of illiteracy in the region. The feudal system is defined as a “ way of organizing society into different groups based on their roles. It had the king at the top with all of the control, and the peasants at the bottom doing all of the work”. (BBC Bitesize 2021). In the case of Balochistan, there is always a tribal head who is a very important and dominating figure. In many instances, either the head of the tribe keeps his interest in front of the interests of his tribe’s people or he is a ruthless corrupt head (Ahmad 2008).
We can see from the discussion above that Balochs have a long history and a unique culture. This then leads to rising feelings of nationalism amongst them. As a result, in the next section, we will look particularly at the Baloch ethnic nationalism.
2.4 Baloch Ethnic nationalism
Ethnic nationalism is defined as the type of nationalism in which individuals are connected by language, race, or culture (Bhabha 1990). In Balochistan, we can see the prominence of cultural or in other words ethnic nationalism as the Baloch culture has a very long and significant history i.e., it originated from Mesopotamia. In Balochistan, we can still see the existence of feudalism so the sardars (rulers) regulate how people behave, work and live. The Sardar makes sure that ordinary people closely follow their code of conduct. Moreover, all Balochs share many similarities in terms of their customs, beliefs they hold, etc. These strong “traditions and cultural values are important to Baluch people and have enabled them to keep their distinctive ancient cultural identity and way of life with little change to this day. The culture and traditions of the Baluch have historically been passed down from mother to daughter, and men from father to son.” (Baloch people — Wikipedia, 2021). As a result of similar ethnicity and culture, the Balochs get united to fight for their rights.
Several scholars have spoken about Baloch nationalism in terms of its nature. For example, khan (2003) argues that the power struggle between the Government of Pakistan and the people of Balochistan is the major contributing factor for Baloch nationalism. Whereas, Bansal (2006) argues that the domination of Punjab is the most significant factor leading to the nationalist movement of Balochs. Contrary, Bizenjo (2009) concludes that the Baloch insurgency is mainly a result of the military operations initiated by the Pakistani state.
As it can be seen that there have been differing conclusions drawn by the scholars on Baloch nationalism, therefore, I will look at some of these factors in detail and outline the factors which are the most underlying reasons for the outburst of violence or in other words nationalist/freedom movements by Balochs.
2.5 Terrorism caused by Balochistan Liberation Army
In this section, the definition of terrorism and the Baloch liberation army will be looked at in detail to find out more about Baloch nationalism.
2.51 Defining Terrorism
Terrorism is defined as the “use or threat of use of seemingly random violence by non-state actors against noncombatants for political ends” (Gottlieb, NYU Terrorism and Counterterrisom course). The primary concepts of terrorism are that firstly, its nature is political, secondly, the non-state actors make use of violence and power to get their demands met, and finally, they kill innocent people at random. States also make use of violence and power at times but they cannot be considered as terrorists instead they can only be classified as funders of terrorist activities to achieve their own goals i.e., India supports the Balochistan Liberation Army to destabilize Pakistan (Khetran 2017) but still, India cannot be considered as a terrorist because it’s a state.
2.52 Balochistan Liberation Army
The surge of ethnic-nationalists in Balochistan resulted in the formation of the Balochistan Liberation Army in 2000 which is named a terrorist group by Pakistan, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom (Balochistan Liberation Army — Wikipedia 2021). This group is currently active and they have led many major attacks in Balochistan. Their first attack was in 2000 in which they killed 7 people by bombing a market in the province. Moreover, their most recent major attack was in 2018 where these militants killed 7 people as they tried to enter the Chinese consulate located in the metropolitan city of Pakistan, Karachi. Their aim of conducting this attack was to damage the cordial relations between China and Pakistan and hence, bring to a halt all the ongoing and future agreements, developmental projects, and negotiations between the two nations (McKirdy 2018).
The goal of the ethnic-nationalist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) is to fight the government of Pakistan so that Balochistan can get relief from the exploitation of its resources along with the regional autonomy for the province (Gates 2015). Moreover, this organization wants that the government of Pakistan instead of exploiting Balochistan’s resources should instead invest in this region so that it can be developed like other provinces such as Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Punjab.
It is important to note that although many nationalists have joined the Baloch liberation army and are fighting the state, still this organization does not have the support of the entire Baloch community. Some nationalists are still demanding their basic rights only such as equality, education, safety, jobs, and freedom from their exploitation.
2.6 Current Situation of Baloch nationalism
The incidents of unrest and violence continue to prevail in Balochistan which is a geographically and economically important region of the country. In this region, the military has waged a war against the Baloch freedom fighters whereas members of freedom fighting organizations are similarly attacking the military.
The Pakistani leaders want the state to control this important region through force and are not interested in finding a plausible solution to the economic and political grievances of the Balochs. Under the presidency of President Pervez Musharraf, one major feudal lord of the Balochs, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, was killed by the army, and following that incident, another major feudal lord was imprisoned by putting charges related to terrorism on him (Majeed and Hashmi 2021). Moreover, secretly the agencies in Pakistan have also kidnapped many Balochs and then detained them due to fear of future uprisings. As a result, this issue of ‘missing persons’ has caused grave distress amongst the Balochs.
Under such circumstances, the young Balochi individuals have lost faith in the Pakistan state and hence, have come to believe that military resistance is the only option left for them to get freedom and above all their due rights.
This shows that Balochis are not violent or terrorists by nature instead the continuous atrocities by the state have made them choose violence as the last resort.
3. Root causes for the discontent amongst the Balochs
3.1 Kalat’s Accession to Pakistan
The rise of ethnonationalism amongst the Balochis arose in the post-colonial era when the state of Kalat was merged into Pakistan and later the Balochs asked for the autonomy of their region and access to equal rights.
The state of Kalat was merged with Pakistan when on 11th August 1947 a communique was reached after a series of discussions and talks between Quaid-e- Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Lord Mountbatten, and the Khan of Kalat (Balochistan: Accession at gunpoint — Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières 2021). There was pressure on the khan of Kalat to join Pakistan because the rulers of the other three major areas in Balochistan had agreed to join Pakistan and later it was announced that the Khan of Kalat agreed to join Pakistan. However，the nationalists in Balochistan believed that firstly, this merger was a forced one, and secondly, the Khan of Kalat had made them lose all their pride and glory due to this forced decision.
Nevertheless, the khan of Kalat in his autobiography denied the accusation of a forceful merger and said that his decision to join Pakistan was not forced and he made this decision willingly (Baluch 1975). However, he did say that after the death of Quaid-e- Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah the leaders which followed him were not like Jinnah and they “lacked the requisite experience of handling sensitive matters like the … historical and traditional background of Baloch people” (Baluch 1975, p.157). He also said that after Jinnah the Baloch’s situation was handled without care and all the promises of Jinnah turned out to be not catered and hence, they were false.
However, even though there were problems faced by the Balochs after Balochistan’s merger with Pakistan but the root cause was that the Balochs never got in terms with the fact that Balochistan had merged with Pakistan or in other words they did not accept this merger and hence, the thoughts for independence amongst the Baloch nationalists remained to nurture (Dushka 2006).
3.2 Distribution of the Resources
Lockwood’s (2002) model echoes the resource sharing in Pakistan. This model explains that due to the population size one province will always be dominant over another province. In the case of Pakistan, the dominant province is Punjab because Punjab makes up 44.7% of the total population (Punjabis — Wikipedia 2021) of the country so due to this it gets to dominate the country’s public policies and receives the highest level of budget, resource allocation, government’s attention to Punjabis needs and building of megaprojects.
Moreover, in the case of both democratic and military regimes, Punjab gets the same priority and dominates the other provinces. When Pakistan is ruled by democratic regimes then the government favors Punjab because this province has the majority in the national assembly seats. On the other hand, during military regimes, Punjab again remains in the spotlight because most of the top diplomats and military leaders belong to the Punjab province.
In the light of the disparity in the resource sharing amongst the provinces, the government of Pakistan must cater to the other provinces such as Balochistan as well because only in this way the country can prevent itself from polarization. However, at the same time, it must be noted that although other provinces like Balochistan can receive some attention from the government but they will never get the development at the cost of Punjab.
In fact, Balochistan does not only face a deficit of interest from the government towards the progress of the region instead this province also faces the exploitation of its resources which are being used for development of other provinces. As Khan (2003b) notes:
“Balochistan belongs to the Baloch people and not to outsiders. The tribes have special interests, and control of natural resources is our primary demand. We own the natural resources, but these are being exploited for the benefit of others. We will not allow others to steal our wealth.”
As a result of this exploitation, the Balochs remain discontent with the state.
3.3 Role played by the security forces
Balochs feel insecure due to the use and especially the increased use of the military in the region. Although the military works under the authority of the government, terror is spread amongst the masses that the military personnel would kill them rather than protecting them against any threats. The locals in Balochistan believe that it should be the government who should control them instead of the military, therefore, Balochs continue to hold increased resentment and reservations towards security forces.
3.4 Role of India as an External Actor
There is a great role played by the Indian government in destabilizing the Balochistan province and for sponsoring different militant organizations there to gather the Baloch nationalists for fighting against the state of Pakistan. India has been a major threat and rival to Pakistan since it was formed and hence, the deep-seated hatred between the two nations has always remained. India played a fundamental role in the separation of East Pakistan from Pakistan which led to a creation of a separate country, Bangladesh. India had helped East Pakistan through RAW which is a secret service agency and also through waging a war against its rival Pakistan to make it weak.
Although in the case of Balochistan, India cannot directly intervene because Balochistan does not share a border with India however, because Balochistan shares a border with Afghanistan so India launches its operations and runs activities from there. The journalists in India have at many times admitted and published about the support given by the Indian government to the militants in Balochistan. It was published by a notable newspaper of India named ‘The Hindu’ that the people involved in the Balochistan Liberation Army have attained “medical treatment in India’s hospitals, often under disguise or with a fake identity” (Indian-funded terrorism in Balochistan 2021). Moreover, a video was published of Kulbhushan Jadhav who was the commander of the Indian Navy and later caught inside Balochistan in 2016. He said that “my purpose was to hold meetings with the Baloch insurgents and carry out activities with their collaboration. These activities have been of criminal nature, leading to the killing of or maiming of Pakistani citizens.” (Indian-funded terrorism in Balochistan 2021). This shows that external actors like India play a major reason in feeding the feeling of war and violence amongst the Balochs.
Hence, due to the lack of concern shown by the Pakistani state towards the Balochs, external actors as a result take advantage of this weakness of the Pakistani state.
3.5 Livelihood of fishermen at stake due to Pak-China Economic Corridor projects at Gwadar
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is defined by the Ministry of Planning as the
“framework of regional connectivity. The enhancement of geographical linkages having improved road, rail, and air transportation system with frequent and free exchanges of growth and people to people contact, enhancing understanding through academic, cultural, and regional knowledge and culture, the activity of higher volume of flow of trade and businesses, producing and moving energy to have more optimal businesses and enhancement of co-operation” (Ministry of Planning 2021).
As we can see from the statement above that CPEC will be overall economically advantageous for the country but it will have downsides as well. For example, in the case of Balochistan, it will affect the fishing industry. This means that hundreds of Baloch fishermen will lose their source of income because fishing is the only skill they possess. Moreover, it is also expected that many residents of Gwadar will lose their homes after the development of Gwadar. This has led to many protests and strikes by the Baloch fishermen. As a result, the government made promises to protect them but the future remains uncertain.
Baloch fishermen are also afraid of the increased interest shown by the Chinese in the fishing sector. Bijian, who is the Chinese Consul General in Karachi said, “Chinese investors are very much interested in investing in the fishing sector in Pakistan” ( Notezai 2021). Hence, the Baloch fishermen are protesting that the Chinese fishing practices will turn out to be destructive and will lead to the knockdown of their fishermen community and above all the fishing stock.
As a result of the CPEC and the damaging effects of it, the Balochs and their leaders are very upset at the Pakistani government. The Baloch leadership believes that they should have been involved in the decision-making process because it’s the Baloch people and their lives that are at stake due to this mega project. Moreover, they also believe that tangible benefits must be given to the Baloch population as well from these mega projects such as Gwadar port’s development. However, President Musharraf denied all such demands of the Baloch people (Marri 2010). This then led to further resentment amongst the Balochs.
3.6 Balochs are fearful of turning into a minority
Due to projects such as CPEC, there has been an increase in the development in the region which has external stakes of other governments involved i.e., China. As more and more individuals from other provinces and China have started to enter Balochistan, Balochs are frightened that they will become a minority in the region. Due to fear of becoming a minority through the initiation of mega projects in the region, megaprojects like CPEC are disliked by the Balochs and they consider them harmful to their Baloch community (Haq 2006).
Balochs believe that in the coming years they will be further suppressed through the decisions of the Pakistani state because the government will keep exploiting them and soon dominate them in their own province through further initiation of developmental projects like CPEC and exploitation of their resources.
3.7 Lack of representation of the Balochs in the military and politics
The people of Balochistan have received little to no representation in the military and the politics of Pakistan. The Baloch politicians who even got some representation in the politics have faced serious opposition i.e., some have not even been successful in completing their tenure due to the central government’s tendency of political exclusion. Moreover, the Balochs have been underrepresented in the army whereas, Punjabis have been overrepresented. This has then led to intensifying the dissatisfaction amongst the Balochs which has resulted in the rising independence and autonomy sentiments amongst them.
3.8 Lack of Education
One of the major contributing factors to the Balochistan conflict is education because it is believed by the Balochs that they have been sidelined in major areas and education being one of those. Although the Pakistani government has made many efforts to promote education in Pakistan i.e., free education schemes, scholarship schemes, etc., but Balochistan remains a neglected region in terms of the provision of education. As a result, this angers the Baloch nationalists who believe that the government does not consider them equal and fails to fulfill its responsibility of promoting education amongst Baloch children who should also be considered as the future of the nation.
4. Is Baloch nationalism a threat to the Pakistani state?
The Baloch’s future and their movement of freedom is full of uncertainty. Although the Baloch movement lacks in financing, numbers, and military capacity, but they have been able to retain their control and exercise power due to their utter determination towards the goal. Moreover, in addition to the aforementioned problems faced by the Baloch freedom movement they have also faced issues such as 1) absence or at times lack unity within the Balochs who have at times themselves caused this movement of freedom to splinter, 2) deficit of international support for the Baloch’s movement even though the Baloch issue is very significant and can affect several external stakeholders. For example, in 1962, Henry Kissinger was asked about his views on the Baloch conflict and in response, he said, “I wouldn’t recognize the Baluchistan problem, (even) if it hit me in the face” (Harrison 1981, p. 1) and 3) finally there is lack of common interest amongst the Baloch leaders and feudal lords to fight the state of Pakistan (Akbar 2011).
In light of the prevailing problems faced by the Baloch freedom movement, it can be said that the Balochs would not be able to get their demands met nor would they get any significant concession from the Pakistani government through pressure. Since the international community has ignored the pleas of Balochis for a long time, the government of Pakistan would likely continue with the same treatment towards Balochs and let the Pakistani military forces have control over major activities in the Balochistan province. Moreover, even in response if the Baloch insurgency intensifies (Press Trust of India 2019) then as a result, the government of Pakistan will intensify their repressive policies against the Balochis with the same intensity. As a result, Balochs would be able to gain no benefit from it.
During this Covid-19 pandemic, it is said by Balochistan’s Human Rights Council that the government of Pakistan has greatly intensified its military repression against the Balochs in the form of military raids and attacks against them (HRCB 2020). The only actors which can prevent it are the strong external actors such as the United States.
Moreover, we can see that CPEC has been almost completed successfully in the region with the support of the Pakistani government. This shows that the government of Pakistan holds strong control over the Balochistan region and can carry out major projects in the province with its own will. Due to this CPEC project, it can be predicted that the Balochi nationals in the province may turn out to be a marginalized group in their own province as they have already been kept away from accessing and utilizing the rich resources of their own province.
As the threat of the military continues or in fact is even predicted to surge, it can be said that Balochs nationalism is of little to no threat to the Pakistani state instead they are left at the hands of the military repression. However, at the same time, it must not be forgotten that the Balochs have developed decades of deep-seated hatred against the state of Pakistan and they should not be taken lightly because if their demands continue to stay unmet then they might resort to extreme measures and those Balochs who as of now do not want complete independence may also join their fellows in this quest and thus, leading to empowering strong anti-state terrorist groups like Baloch liberation army. As the worst consequence, this can initiate a civil war which may also lead to the formation of a new country like Bangladesh.
5. Conclusion
It can be seen from the above discussion that there have been many pushing factors for the discontent amongst the Baloch population namely accession of Kalat, resource sharing, the role played by security forces, external actors, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, fear of turning into a minority, lack of representation of the Balochs in the military and politics and finally, the lack of promotion of education in Balochistan.
It can also be seen that Baloch nationalism does not pose a major threat to the Pakistani state until 1)the external actors’ involvement gets extreme i.e., as it did in the case of East Pakistan and 2)the Balochs hate towards the Pakistani state bursts in the form of a civil war. Until now the government of Pakistan with the help of military involvement has been able to fight the rising militants in the Balochistan province due to the strength of the Pakistani military but this is not a solution to the insurgencies in Balochistan. There is a definite need for the government to address the grievances of the Balochi population which were not addressed by the previous governments and also a sense of trust needs to be developed between both parties so that the intentions of the parties can be better understood by each other.
6. Way Forward
It is no doubt that out of the four provinces of Pakistan, Balochistan is one of the most neglected ones. This province is in a dire need of reforms and changes to get stability, peace, and above all prosperous development in the region. It is very important for the government of Pakistan to first understand the intensity of the issue and then devise policies and reforms for the province because, to win the trust of the Balochs, it would require genuine and sincere efforts by the Pakistani government. It is fundamental to bring the political elites and feudal lords on the same page with the state so that through dialogues and negotiations this deep-seated hate relation between the two can come to an end. Moreover, Balochs have always complained about how their resources are being exploited and none of the big projects are launched for the actual development of the Balochistan province. As a result, a comprehensible and complete roadmap needs to be made to address the economic and social development of this province.
Recommendations
I believe to fight the Baloch nationalist or in other words, the terrorist groups which have bred there; the government of Pakistan needs to take the following steps in order to bring a solution to this conflict:
1. Fighting terrorist groups like Balochistan Liberation Organization through Education
In order to fight militant groups in developing countries like Pakistan where education is not considered very important, it is fundamental to promote education as it can contribute towards the prosperity of the country and above all peace in the regions which are facing unrest.
Here we can take an example of a mountaineer named Mortenson who came to Pakistan to climb the K2 mountain. On his journey to climbing the mountain, he got strayed and hence, landed in a village instead. When he came to the village they offered him great hospitality but what he saw there was alarming: no schools in the area. He saw kids sitting without a roof and without any teacher. He inquired about this and found out that the villagers could not afford to have a teacher so two villages shared one teacher although hiring a teacher costs roughly $30 per month. To help the kind villagers who had offered Mortenson great hospitality, he decided to build schools in the region (Greg Mortenson: the man who builds schools | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 2021). Building schools and promotion of education not only proved to be very successful in the promotion of education but also helped in fighting extremism which was embraced in these regions. Moreover, in some regions, the people belonging to the extremist groups even laid their arms so that their children could get educated and get a better life.
2. “You will encounter many distractions and many temptations to put your goal aside. But if you hang in there, always following your vision, I have no doubt you will succeed.” (Larry Flynt)
This quote by Larry Flynt perfectly explains how the government of Pakistan has faced many obstacles from external and internal actors, as discussed above, in bringing peace and prosperity in the Baloch region but it must continue to carry out its efforts i.e, the Balochistan Package. Moreover, to fight the outside propaganda and internal actors, the government needs to tighten its security to ensure peace and stability in the region. The Pakistani government must continue with its militant operations in Balochistan’s tribal regions to suppress any anti-state uprisings and outside goals to dismantle the authority of the Pakistani state.
3. In mega projects like CPEC there should be involvement of the Baloc people in the decision-making process. They should be given equal representation and dividends. Moreover, the people in Balochistan should be given more job opportunities as compared to hiring the people from other provinces and countries and there should be fairness in the jobs given to the Balochs as well instead of giving low-class jobs to the Balochi people and top jobs to the people belonging outside of Balochistan.
4. The missing person issue in Balochistan must be brought a solution. This issue has two major negative consequences which are that firstly, it helps in nurturing the nationalist sentiments amongst the Baloch nationalists, and secondly, different terrorist organizations take advantage of this conflict situation for their own gains. In order to solve this issue the innocent people who were captured in masses and went missing during the regime of President Musharraf should be provided justice. Moreover, those who decide to repent should be pardoned. This will give a positive image of the government of Pakistan to the Baloch nationalists and as a result, they might start to appreciate the efforts of the state.
5. Finally, a process of negotiations needs to be started and for that, a bench needs to be formed which must include the top trusted leaders and individuals of the Baloch population. Then only these peace negotiations for solving the conflict would gain credibility amongst the Baloch masses and it would be possible to reach a consensus that satisfies the Baloch nationalists. Once comprehensible and workable recommendations are laid out then the implementation of those should be ensured by the state.
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