By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI –The deadly surge in violence in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, in which over 50 persons died in multiple attacks recently, has highlighted the unrest prevailing in the region amid the history of continuous political turmoil.
The members of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), who call themselves nationalists but are dubbed terrorists by the Pakistani establishment, have targeted specific groups such as Chinese workers, security forces, Punjabi labourers, and those involved in development projects.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has emerged as the biggest violent group which discourages others from coming to Balochistan to work on development initiatives. Apart from the Pakistani government, China’s Global Times and Pakistan’s Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) accuse one of Pakistan’s neighbouring countries of funding and arming the BLA to create permanent instability in Pakistan.
On the other hand, various human rights groups have highlighted the phenomenon of enforced disappearances of the Baloch people. As the Baloch movement is aided and abetted by foreign powers as per claims of the Pakistani establishment, it is increasingly becoming difficult for Pakistan to adopt only a militaristic approach to the issue.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said that terrorists claimed 38 innocent lives, while the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) confirmed that 14 security personnel, including four law enforcement officials, lost their lives during clearance operations that resulted in the killing of the 21 terrorists.
The attacks began late on August 25 night, targeting checkpoints and police stations in Mastung, Kalat, Pasni, and Suntsar, resulting in numerous casualties. Explosions and grenade attacks were reported in Sibi, Panjgur, Mastung, Turbat, Bela, and Quetta, with terrorists blowing up a railway track near Mastung. Attackers also ransacked a police station in Suntsar, Gwadar, seizing official weapons.
In a separate incident, at least 23 people were killed in the Musakhail district when armed men forcibly removed passengers from trucks and buses and shot them after verifying their identities on August 26 morning. Armed men blocked the inter-provincial highway in the Rarasham area of the district and offloaded passengers from several buses. The perpetrators stopped buses, vans, and trucks, one after the other on a highway connecting Punjab with Balochistan.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attacks and expressed his deep grief on the martyrdom of policemen and checkpost personnel. He directed that the injured people be provided with the best medical facilities. President Asif Ali Zardari also condemned the terrorism incidents in Razmik Bazaar, North Waziristan and Kalat. He conveyed his sympathies to the bereaved families and pledged to continue efforts to completely eradicate terrorism.
The attacks coincided with the 18th death anniversary of Nawab Akbar Bugti, a former nationalist leader.
Bugti, a former Governor and Chief Minister of Balochistan joined the separatist movement in 2005 and was killed in a military operation in August 2006 near his hometown of Dera Bugti. Bugti’s anniversary is consistently marked by violence, but the recent attacks across Balochistan send a clear message that the influence of armed groups spreads through the entire province.
Balochistan, which is Pakistan’s largest province, is home to about 1.50 crore of the country’s 24 crore citizens, according to the 2023 census. Despite its wealth of natural resources, including vast reserves of oil, coal, gold, copper, and gas, the province remains the nation’s most impoverished region.
Since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in August 2021, Pakistan has seen an increasing number of violent attacks, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, both of which border Afghanistan. In 2023 alone, there were more than 650 attacks, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), with 23% occurring in Balochistan, resulting in 286 deaths.
Ever since the Taliban recaptured Kabul in August 2021, Pakistan, especially in its Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces neighbouring Afghanistan, has seen an increase in terrorist attacks. In 2023 alone, there were over 650 recorded attacks, with 23% occurring in Balochistan, which is Pakistan’s largest province by landmass and a hotbed of separatist insurgency.
The BLA has claimed responsibility for the deaths. According to security officials, the separatists damaged infrastructure and executed migrant labourers from Punjab. That the attacks occurred in different parts of Balochistan shows the growing reach and capability of the insurgency. Bugti’s death anniversaries have seen violent incidents in the past, but Pakistan’s military and intelligence services were caught off guard on August 26.
Historically, Pakistan has taken a ruthless, militarist approach towards the Baloch problem. Pakistan has historically neglected the province. Punjab, on the other hand, grew to be influential in national politics and economically prosperous, leading to strong anti-Punjab tendencies within sections of the Baloch community.
This, along with the poor living conditions, was exploited by the separatists to drum up support for their cause. They often attack the federal government for extracting resources without offering any help to the local economy. Baloch separatists have cited the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which goes through the province, as an example of this exploitation, and targeted Chinese interests.
The Pakistani establishment has also failed to engage with the civil rights movements in Balochistan, such as the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, which organized several sit-ins in Islamabad and Baloch cities this year to draw the attention of the federal authorities to widespread human rights abuses in the province. Such activists were often painted as enemies of Pakistan, which left the military with the only option of using force against the separatists.
But state violence has only strengthened the separatists, as the latest attacks have underscored. If Pakistan is serious about stability and security in its largest province, it should take measures to address the developmental concerns of the locals, stop the rights violations and engage with the peaceful civil rights voices to reset ties with the Balochis.
Balochistan is a region with a distinct cultural and historical identity that is now divided between three countries, mainly Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. The recent protests in the province constitute an important episode in Balochistan’s long history of political turmoil.
There is considerable resentment in Balochistan with the government’s counter-insurgency strategy. The security forces, as a part of their counter-insurgency operations, reportedly resort to enforced disappearances, which implies that the whereabouts of individuals detained or abducted by government officials are unknown.
Quite often, enforced disappearances have ended in extra-judicial killings and fake encounters. The government-constituted Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances recorded approximately 2,752 cases. On the other hand, civil society groups such as the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons contend that there were over 7,000 cases of disappearances between 2002 and 2024. Various human rights organisations have also highlighted the phenomena of enforced disappearances of the Baloch people.
China has emerged as a major player in Balochistan and has invested in mining, energy, airports and expressway projects as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The CPEC begins in Kashgar, China, traverses through the length of Pakistan, and ends in Gwadar. Because of its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, a shipping route that witnesses substantive oil transportation, Gwadar often figured in geopolitical discussions even during the Cold War.
A Chinese firm has taken the Gwadar port on a 40-year lease and is involved in constructing and operating it. While Pakistan officials often insist that Gwadar will remain a commercial port, the apprehensions regarding a possible militarisation of the port continue to persist. A Chinese naval presence will enhance its ability to project power into the Persian Gulf and protect its energy supplies via the Strait of Hormuz.
The possible militarisation of the port, fencing and other infrastructure development has raised concerns among the locals that they will lose access to large parts of the coastline, which would negatively impact their livelihoods. Additionally, the presence of Chinese trawlers close to Gwadar prompted protests from the local fishing community that demanded an end to illegal fishing and freedom to operate in the sea without restrictions.
Many in Balochistan contend that even a decade after the initiation of the CPEC, there have been no tangible gains for their people. Instead, there is growing anxiety that the province’s demography is changing rapidly as non-locals have moved into Balochistan to work on infrastructure projects. Overall, the CPEC has not addressed the perception of neglect among the Baloch people.
The Pakistani government is responding to these incidents of violence and resentment among the people by scaling up security tactics. The establishment needs to listen to voices calling for a prudent approach to address the challenges in Balochistan. Pakistan’s popular English newspaper, “Dawn”, noted in its recent editorial that those who wield power must listen to Balochistan’s aggrieved voices with compassion, and work to solve the province’s burning issues, chief amongst which are the missing persons and socio-economic disparity.
Moreover, Islamabad’s approach of building a few big-ticket infrastructure projects with external assistance and without adequate local stakeholder participation has exacerbated the Baloch grievances.
To compound the challenges, prolonged military rule in Pakistan with intermittent semi-democratic regimes ensured that provinces rarely enjoyed autonomy to be partners in defining their destiny. The failure to address provincial aspirations has resulted in political turmoil in Balochistan.
