Insurgency in Balochistan

Balochistan conflict
Frontier between Balochistan and Afghanistan before the Durand agreement of 1893.
Date In Pakistan, 1973-1979, 2006-2009 In Iran, 2003 – 2009 Location Balochistan Result Violence largely subdued, political talks underway Killing of Akbar Bugti 1970s Baloch insurgency Missing persons (Pakistan) Turbat killings
Belligerents
Pakistan Iran	BLA BLF BPLF BRA BLUF Jundallah SSP Supported by MEK Iraq (in the 1980s against Iran and Pakistan)
Commanders and leaders
Liaquat Ali Khan Ayub Khan Yahya Khan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Tikka Khan Zia ul-Haq Rahimuddin Khan Pervez Musharraf Yousaf Raza Gillani Tariq Majid Khalid Wynne Ali Khamenei Mohammad Khatami Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Hassan Firouzabadi	Karim Khan (POW) Nowroz Khan (POW) Khair Bakhsh Marri Balach Marri  † Akbar Bugti  † Brahamdagh Bugti Allah Nazar Baloch Dad Shah  † Abdolmalek Rigi  † Abdolhamid Rigi  † Muhammad Dhahir Baluch
Strength
Army: 50,000 Frontier Corps: 30,000 Military of Iran: unknown	BLA: 10,000 Jundallah: 700-2,000
Casualties and losses
Pakistan: 1973-1977: 3,000-3,300 killed 2006-2009: 303+ killed Iran: 154 killed (security forces and civilians) 320 injured (security forces and civilians)	Balochistan Liberation Army: 1973-1977 5,300 killed 2006-2009: 380+ killed Jundallah: unknown
~6,000 civilians killed in Pakistan (1973-1977) 1,628+ civilians killed in Pakistan (2004-2009) ~4,500 arrested (2004-2005 ~140,000 displaced (2004–2005)
Only the currently active insurgent groups are listed in the infobox.

The Balochistan conflict is an ongoing conflict between Baloch nationalists and the Government of Pakistan over Balochistan. Issues range from human rights abuses, more autonomy, more royalties and in some cases to secession. Recently, militants have also clashed with the Islamic Republic of Iran over its respective Baloch region, which borders Pakistan.

Shortly after Pakistan's creation in 1947, the Pakistan Army had to subdue insurgents based in Kalat who rejected the King of Kalat's decision to accede to Pakistan. A subsequent Baloch separatist movement gained momentum during the 1960s, and amid consistent political disorder and instability at the federal level, the government ordered a military operation into the region in 1973, assisted by Iran, and inflicted heavy casualties on the separatists. Insurgency, however, again gained strength in the 1990s and 2000s.

In late 2011, the Balochistan conflict became the issue of a dialogue on a new U.S. South Asia strategy brought up by some U.S. congressmen which said they were frustrated over Pakistan's alleged continued support to the Afghan Taliban which they said led to the continuation of the War in Afghanistan (2001-present).

Area of dispute

Historical Balochistan comprised the Balochistan region. Its western region was the southern part of Sistan o Baluchestan province, Iran. In the east was Pakistani Balochistan. In the northwest the Helmand province of Afghanistan. The Gulf of Oman formed its southern border. Although historical Balochistan is the largest (44% of the country's area) region of Pakistan, it is the least populated (only 5% of the population) and the least developed area.

Stuart Notholt in his "Atlas of Ethnic Conflict" describes the nature of the conflict as a "nationalist/self-determination conflict".

Elite upper-lower class economic gap

A report published in Dawn, Pakistan's leading English-language news publication, highlighted the economic dimensions to the conflict, noting that while Balochistan was considered to be a "neglected province where a majority of population lacks amenities", it's ruling elite enjoyed glamorous lifestyles that provided a different perspective of the issue. The report observed that members of Balochistan's elite society, including provincial government ministers and officials, owned "pieces of land greater in size than some small towns of the country", had precious vehicles, and assets, properties, investments as well as businesses valued worth millions of Rupees.

History

Background

Balochs (pink), Pashtuns (green), Punjabis (brown), Sindhis (yellow)

First conflict 1948

Baloch nationalists claim that the central Punjabi-dominated government sent the Pakistan army in April 1948, to force Mir Ahmed Yar Khan - ruler of the Kalat state - to acede to Pakistan. Mir Ahmed Yar Khan signed an accession agreement ending Kalat's de facto independence. His brother, Prince Abdul Karim Khan, was a powerful governor of a section of Kalat, a position that he was removed from after accession. He decided to initiate an insurgency against Pakistan. On the night of May 16, 1948 Prince Abdul Karim Khan initiated a separatist movement against the Pakistani government. He conducted guerrilla warfare based in Afghanistan against the Pakistan army.

Second conflict 1958–59 (led by Nawab Nowroz Khan)

Nawab Nowroz Khan took up arms in resistance to the One Unit policy, which decreased government represenation for tribal leaders. He and his followers started a guerrilla war against Pakistan. Nowroz Khan and his followers were charged with treason and arrested and confined in Hyderabad jail. Five of his family members (sons and nephews) were subsequently hanged under charges of aiding murder of Pakistani troops and treason. Nawab Nowroz Khan later died in captivity.

Third conflict 1963–69 (led by Sher Muhammad Bijrani Marri)

After the second conflict, the Federal government sent the Army to build new military bases in the key conflict areas of Balochistan in order to resist further chaos. Sher Muhammad Bijrani Marri led like-minded militants into guerrilla warfare by creating their own insurgent bases spread out over 45,000 miles (72,000 km) of land, from the Mengal tribal area in the south to the Marri and Bugti tribal areas in the north. Their goal was to force Pakistan to share revenue generated from the Sui gas fields with the tribal leaders. The insurgents bombed railway tracks and ambushed convoys. The Army retaliated by destroying vast areas of the Marri tribe's land. This insurgency ended in 1969 and the Baloch separatists agreed to a ceasefire. Yahya Khan abolished the "One Unit" policy. This eventually led to the recognition of Balochistan as the fourth province of West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan) in 1970, containing all the Balochistani princely states, the High Commissioners Province and Gwadar, an 800 km² coastal area purchased by the Pakistani Government from Oman.

Fourth conflict 1973–77 (led by Nawab Khair Baksh Marri)

Further information: Baloch Insurgency and Rahimuddin's Stabilization

Citing treason, President Bhutto dismissed the provincial governments of Balochistan and NWFP and imposed martial law in those provinces. Dismissal of the provincial governments led to armed insurgency. Khair Bakhsh Marri formed the Balochistan People’s Liberation Front (BPLF), which led large numbers of Marri and Mengal tribesmen into guerrilla warfare against the central government. According to some authors, the Pakistani military lost 300 to 400 soldiers during the conflict with the Balochi separatists, while between 7,300 and 9,000 Balochi militants and civilians were killed.

Fifth conflict 2004 – to date (led by Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and Mir Balach Marri)

In 2005, the Baluch political leaders Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and Mir Balach Marri presented a 15-point agenda to the Pakistan government. Their stated demands included greater control of the province's resources and a Moratorium on the construction of military bases. On 15 December 2005, Inspector-General of Frontier Corps Maj Gen Shujaat Zamir Dar and his deputy Brig Salim Nawaz (the current IGFC) were wounded after shots were fired at their helicopter in Balochistan province. The provincial interior secretary later said that "both of them were wounded in the leg but both are in stable condition." The two men had been visiting Kohlu, about 220 km (140 mi) south-east of Quetta, when their aircraft came under fire. The helicopter landed safely.

In August 2006, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, 79 years old, was killed in fighting with the Pakistan Army in which at least 60 Pakistani soldiers and 7 officers were killed. He was charged by Pakistan's government of a series of bomb blasts, killings of the people he professed to protect and the rocket attack on the President Pervez Musharraf.

In April 2009, Baloch National Movement president Ghulam Mohammed Baloch and two other nationalist leaders (Lala Munir and Sher Muhammad), were seized from a small legal office and were allegedly "handcuffed, blindfolded and hustled into a waiting pickup truck which is in still use of intelligence forces in front of their lawyer and neighboring shopkeepers."The gunmen were allegedly speaking in Persian (a national language of neighboring Afghanistan and Iran) Five days later on April 8 their bodies, "riddled with bullets" were found in a commercial area.The BLA claims Pakistani forces were behind the killings, though international experts have deemed it odd that the Pakistani forces, would be careless enough to allow the bodies to be found so easily and 'light Balochistan on fire' (Herald) if they were truly responsible. The discovery of the bodies sparked "rioting and weeks of strikes, demonstrations and civil resistance" in cities and towns around Balochistan. (See Turbat killings).

On August 12, 2009, Khan of Kalat Mir Suleiman Dawood declared himself ruler of Balochistan and formally made announcement of a Council for Independent Balochistan. The Council's claimed domain includes "Baloch of Iran", as well as Pakistani Balochistan, but does not include Afghan Baloch regions, and the Council contains "all separatist leaders including Nawabzada Bramdagh Bugti." He claims that "the UK had a moral responsibility to raise the issue of Balochistan’s illegal occupation at international level."

Attacks by Jundallah in Iran

• 2007 Zahedan bombings: 18 people were killed.
• 2009 Zahedan bombing: 20 people were killed.
• 2009 Pishin bombing: 43 people were killed.
• July 2010 Zahedan bombings: 27 people were killed.
• 2010 Chabahar suicide bombing: 38 people were killed.

Among the deaths in the Pishin bombings were two Iranian Revolutionary Guards generals: Noor Ali Shooshtari, the deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards' ground forces and Rajab Ali Mhammadzadeh, the Revolutionary Guards' Sistan and Baluchistan provincial commander.

Alleged foreign support

Afghanistan

In 2012, Pakistani interior minister Rehman Malik revealed that Baloch Republican Party chief Brahamdagh Bugti was operating terrorist training camps in Afghanistan which were dismantled only after Islamabad conveyed its knowledge of these camps to Kabul. Malik said that the camps in Afghanistan were responsible for training up to 5,000 insurgents who were causing unrest in Balochistan and that Bugti had hired three large houses in Kabul. The Pakistani minister noted that the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, had accepted that militants based in Afghanistan were fuelling terrorism in Balochistan. The Afghan government assured Pakistan that it would close the infiltration of these militants. In the past, President Karzai had always denied that Balochs living in Afghanistan's Baloch areas were supporting an armed struggle in Balochistan. According to wikileaks cables, Karzai said in a 2007 conversation with U.S. officials, "that [Baloch leader] Bugti had once tried to call Karzai but he had refused for the sake of good relations with Pakistan. Now he cannot forgive himself for refusing. Karzai assessed that Pakistan had troubles with many other tribes too, as a result of its trying to divide and conquer and turn the tribes against each other. Pakistan needed to address the bigger picture, Karzai urged." Baloch leaders such as Bugti left Afghanistan for Switzerland.

India

Brahamdagh Bugti in an interview stated he would accept aid from India, Afghanistan and Iran which would help in the defense of Baluchistan. Pakistan has repeatedly accused India, and occasionally the U.S., of supporting the Baluch rebels in order to destabilize the country claiming undeniable evidence which it failed to present. India has categorically denied the allegations and pointed to Pakistan failing to provide any evidence. Neutral observers have noted that the Baloch nationalist groups are poorly trained in military tactics and strategy, and are currently outgunned by the Pakistani state. The groups are mainly armed with small non-automatic weapons and AK-47s, which are widely available in Pakistan, and they are not skilled at using Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). The poor state of the force's organization and equipment would seem to indicate that any external support is minimal. However, according to wikileaks, British intelligence is said to believe that India was backing the insurgency as a result of suspected Pakistani support for Lashkar-e-Taiba.

U.S.

Iran asserts that the U.S. provides Jundullah with support. Captured Jundullah leader Abdulmalek Rigi confirmed the allegations, though the U.S. government continues to deny providing assistance to Jundullah.

Organizations

In the 1980s the CIA, the Iraqi Intelligence Service, Pakistani Sunni extremist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and the Mujahedin e-Kalq all supported a Baluchi tribal uprising against Iran. Selig S. Harrison of the George Soros-funded Center for International Policy has called for dividing Pakistan and supporting an independent Baluch province as a means of weakening any alliance between Islamabad and Beijing. Relations between the two countries have warmed, with Pakistan granting China access to a naval base at Gwadar.

Economic Effects and Shortage of Skilled Workers and goods

Chief Minister of the Province has said "A large number of professors, teachers, engineers, barbers and masons are leaving the province for fear of attacks, This inhuman act will push the Baloch nation at least one century back. The Baloch nation will never forgive whoever is involved in target killings. He said the government has approved three university campuses, three medical colleges and hospitals for Turbat, Mastung, Naseerabad and Loralai districts but there was shortage of teachers in the area". Rice traders from Punjab have also been killed in target killing, this has resulting in higher prices of foods items in balouchistan . Almost 40 people of non balochi ethinc groups where killed in 2009

Development and Human Rights Issues

According to Indian claims the Government of Pakistan has repeatedly stated its intention to bring industrialization to the province, and continues to claim that progress has been made and introduced a Economic Package called "Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan". This is vehemently challenged by Baloch nationalist groups, who argue the benefits of these policies have not accrued to the native Baloch residents of the province. Baloch nationalist groups continue to highlight the extraction of natural resources, especially natural gas, from the province, without discernible economic benefit to the Baloch people. Nonetheless, the government of Pakistan continues to insist that industrial zones are planned along the new Gawadar-Karachi highway. According to the government, this development is envisaged to bring accelerated progress in the future for the Baloch. On the third of May 2004 Three Chinese engineers working on a hydropower project that would enable irrigation for poor Baloch farmers as part of Pakistani government's initiatives to develop Baloch agricultural capacity were killed while another 11 injured in a car bomb attack by BLA. China called back her engineers working on the project in Balochistan. The progress in the hydro-power sector has been slow since then. However, the people of the region have been largely forced to maintain a nomadic lifestyle due to extreme poverty, illiteracy and inability to respond to changing modern environment. The indigenous people are continuously threatened by war and other means of oppression which has resulted in loss of thousands of innocent lives for many years. Presently, according to Amnesty International, Baluch activists, politicians and student leaders are among those that are being targeted in forced disappearances, abductions, arbitrary arrests and cases of torture and other ill-treatment.

The resources of the local inhabitants such as natural gas, minerals, oceans and others have been used to produce energy for Pakistan and generated. Balochistan gets Rs32.71 per unit on account of gas revenues which includes a royalty of Rs13.90, excise duty of Rs5.09 and gas development surcharge of Rs13.72. Also many private individuals with gas storages on their land also receive payments. Many Balochs argue that such royalties are too low. In response in 2011 Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani announced a further Rs. 120 billion ($2.5 USD) under Balochistan gas development surcharge and royalty part of the "Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan" package The royalties often do not trickle down to the common people in Balochistan due to corruption and welath-hoarding of Baloch tribal chiefs. This has hindered the growth of infrastructure.

Multiculturalism and immigration

Skill is imported from other regions, due to the historical shortage of skilled workers in the sparsely populated and inaccessible terrain. The arrival of skilled workers means new industries can develop and boost the local economy however nationalist argue that this creates resentment amongst the local inhabitants. Like Karachi, which after migration from Balouchistan, Central Asia, Iran, East Asia and especially a large number of people arriving from other areas of Pakistan in search of daily living settled there, it has been a national financial hub in Pakistan. thus the local inhabitants (Sindhis) became a minority in the largest city of their province. Nationalists argue against multiculturalism and non-Baloch immigration. Karachi city has been playing a key role as a financial hub for Pakistan and its economy has exploded to become on the major cities in Asia as a seaport. However the city continues be a home for ethnic and sectarian violence. Balouch nationalist argue that migration leads to such events, and they are opposed to similar situation in Baluchistan. Mir Suleiman Dawood claims that the people in Balochistan remain deeply resentful of Pakistan's policies in the region and he, apart from other, rather militant, Baloch nationalist organizations have openly called for India's assistance in Balochistan's separation from Pakistan. On August 12, 2009, Khan of Kalat Mir Suleiman Dawood declared himself ruler of Balochistan and formally made announcement of a Council for Independent Balochistan. The Council's claimed domain includes "Baloch of Iran", apart fron Pakistani Balochistan,but does not include Afghan Baloch regions, and the Council contains "all separatist leaders including Nawabzada Bramdagh Bugti.".

MPA Personal Development Budget

Balochistan’s annual development programme for 2010-11 was Rs27bn as compared to Rs13bn in 2007-08. This allowed each Member of the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan to have a personal development budget for his or her consistency of Rs 180 million which will be increased to Rs 250 million in 2011-2012 . However critics argue development funding is not a substitute for deep political issues, and MPA have no incentive to find a political solution with the insurgents as they believe as long as the insurgency continues they will get more funds.There have also been allegations that MPAs are exploiting the PSDP programme to get Kickbacks and engage in corruption

Farm Subsidy

The Federal government announced it would transfer Rs4 billion subsidy to Provincial Government to be passed onto farmers in Balochistan to promote for tube-wells. The Provincial Government announced it would spend further Rs 3 billion to support the Federal Programme. However high levels of corruption amongst civil servants and senior ministers may mean the common man only gets partial benefit

Education Issue

Education is a major factor in the Balouchistan conflict, which nationalist feeling as sense of being neglected. Government of Pakistan recognises that importing skilled labour from other regions causing tensions in the region, so it has sought to encourage scholarships for Balochistan students so they can go home and lead development programmes . The quota for baloch students in punjab university was doubled in 2010 under the Cheema Long Scheme on the order of CM Shabaz Sharif. The Provincial governments of Sindh,Punjab and KP said they would take steps to encourage Balochistan studentsto enroll and benefits from 100% scholarships However Nationalist argue that not enough educational development is taking place, and the government has neglected its duty.

Education City at Sui

Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Janauary 2011 announced establishment of Education City in Sui.COAS said Pakistan Army had built a number of colleges in Balouchistan to promote education levels such as Balochistan Institute of Technical Education and Gwadar Institute of Technical Education, 1,673 individuals had graduates from the technical colleges. Historically Military Administed colleges where less corrupt than civilian managed ones. Presently 22,786 Baloch students are studying in Army and Frontier Corps run educational institutions

Supreme Court Investigation

There are more than 5,000 cases of ‘forced disappearances’ in Balochistan . Many are innocent and stuck in Pakistan's slow court system whilst other are in prison awaiting charges on a range of things such as gun smuggling and robbery. The chief Justice of an apex court of Pakistan asked about the situation and said situation was going out of control in Balochistan. The Supreme Court is currently investigating the "missing persons" and issued an arrest warrant for the former Military Dictator Pervez Musharaff . Furthermore, the Chief Justice of the court said the military must act under the government's direction and follow well-defined parameters set by the Constitution.

Missing People found

In June 2011, the prime minister was informed that 41 missing people had returned to their homes, false cases against 38 had been withdrawn and several others had been traced. The PM urged police to trace the missing people and help them to return to their homes.

Supreme Court Orders

The Supreme Court apex court headed by Justice Iqbal decided ordered the government to the grant of subsistence allowance to the affected families.Justice Iqbal advised families not to lose hope.He said the issue of missing persons had become a chronic problem and, therefore, the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, constituted on the orders of the apex court, should be made permanent.

See also

• List of wars 2003-current
• Human rights violations in Balochistan

External links

• Unrest simmers in Pakistan province
• Turbat killings
• Interview of Balochistan National Party's Sanaullah Baloch