Balochistan — An Indian Perspective
“Mujhe jang-e-azadi ka maza maloom hai,
Balochon pe zulm ki inteha maloom hai,
Mujhe zindagi bhar Pakistan mein jeenay ki dua na do,
Mujhe Pakistan mein inn saath saal jeenay ki saza maloom hai”
– Habib Jalib
Balochistan is the region outlined in red in the following image. It mostly consists of the Pakistani province of Balochistan and includes the Iranian provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan, as well as the southern areas of Afghanistan including Helmand and roughly until Kandahar. To the south, its coastline meets with the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman. This article shall focus primarily on the Pakistani province of Balochistan.
Strategic Importance
The region plays a vital role in the energy security of Pakistan, as well as provides a key node in global trade. The coastline of Balochistan stretches along the Gulf of Oman, located right at the gateway to the ever-important Straits of Hormuz. Gwadar port, the deepest seaport in the world, is expected to handle 400 million tonnes of cargo per year by 2030. Furthermore, over US$1 trillion worth of natural resources has been found in Balochistan, including gold, copper, chromite, coal, oil and natural gas. Three of Pakistan’s naval bases — Ormara, Pasni, and Gwadar — are located on the Baloch coast. These provide Pakistan strategic depth as well — something that the naval base at Karachi does not; it has been blockaded and attacked by India in the past.
With the practical selling out of key Pakistani infrastructure to China, under the clever guise of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), it is only natural that a Chinese company is operating the Gwadar port. The China Overseas Port Holding Company (COPHC) shall control the port until 2059. Indeed, in the long term, this corridor is anything but economic for Pakistan. However, this topic merits a separate article of its own, so I’ll leave it here for now.
The Story of Balochistan
Balochistan is a region with a rich, yet tumultuous past. It marked the westernmost extent of the Indus Valley civilisation, and centuries later, was ruled by the Hindu Sewa dynasty. The Sewa dynasty ruled Balochistan (mainly Kalat) until an Islamic invasion in the 7th century AD. However, as is the case with most of the Indian subcontinent, the trouble started during the colonial rule of the British Empire.
During the British rule in the 19th century, the decisions of several boundary commissions had altered the historic boundaries of the state between the British Empire, Afghanistan, and erstwhile Persia. Despite this, a meagre remnant of the Baloch nation remained, represented by the princely state of Kalat that declared independence in August 1947. The Baloch stance, in essence, is that the Khanate of Kalat was never a part of India. They are of the opinion that the British violated solemn treaty agreements by treating it as an Indian state just prior to their departure.
Following the announcement of India’s Partition Plan on 3rd June 1947, the Kalat government held talks with representatives of Lord Mountbatten, as well as those of the future government of Pakistan. These talks led to certain preparatory steps towards a formal reaffirmation of the suzerainty of the Khan of Kalat over Balochistan. As the story goes, the Khan was double-crossed by Mohammed Ali Jinnah, and ultimately acceded to Pakistan under duress. This came under a year of the Khan proclaiming the independence of Kalat on 12th August 1947.
An interesting point to note about the accession is that the Khan accepted it in his personal capacity. He resigned before signing the agreement, there were no consultations made within his government, and neither was there a referendum for the people. This leads to a vast majority of the Balochis contending till date, that the accession itself is illegal.
A Historic Mistake
In 1946, the Khan of Kalat was in discussion with the leadership of the Indian National Congress (INC) on the fate of Balochistan. Much to the Khan’s dismay, the then INC president, Abul Kalam Azad, questioned the very idea of Balochistan as an independent nation. Foreign Policy Centre, a British think-tank, goes as far as stating in a report that Nehru returned the accession papers signed by the Khan of Kalat in 1947. This was the final nail in the Baloch coffin. A fledgling nation, incapable of prevailing over invading forces, now stood alone in the Great Game of the Indian subcontinent.
By now, the Pakistanis had gotten wind of the Khan’s proposal to India. Within days, the Pakistan Army stormed Kalat and India could only remain a mute spectator to the annexation of Balochistan — a prior agreement with the Khan disregarded much like the lives of innocent Balochis. The Indian government’s myopic approach to this problem cost the Balochis dearly. India lost a region with immense strategic value, as described earlier. Indians were deprived of another timeless culture and its traditions.
At this point, we must be aware of two harsh realities — there was no Muslim League presence in Balochistan, and no Baloch attended the 1940 session of the Muslim League in Lahore. The writing was on the wall — the interests of the Baloch people were never regarded by the League right from the get-go.
The Pakistani government’s flip-flop on Balochistan may very well have been a result of their need for natural resources. Ghous Bakhsh Bizenjo, a Baloch leader, mentioned in a fiery speech:
“Pakistani officials say that Balochistan should join Pakistan as it would not be able to sustain itself economically. We have minerals, we have petroleum and ports. The question is, where would Pakistan be without us?”
As the Baloch saying goes, a Baloch may be born without socks, but his feet shall forever tread on gold. No land must be identified solely by what it has to offer — the interests of its native population must take precedence in a democracy.
Furthermore, the concept of a separate country for Muslims did not align with the more secular tribal traditions of the Baloch people. However, the tribal divisions run deep. The Balochi tribes may have existed without much infighting, but could not firmly establish a common Baloch identity until it was too late.
Pakistani Oppression
Post-Independence, the Government of Pakistan made several efforts to create a centralized state. These included policies like “One Unit” and “Basic Democracies”. The “One Unit” policy, implemented in 1955, created a single provincial entity that subsumed all the provinces of West Pakistan as a counter to East Pakistan, which was numerically superior to other Pakistani provinces. Not only did this policy fail to establish a common Pakistani identity, especially among its minorities, it further alienated the smaller ethnic groups in the country.
Even today, the region that has practically sustained Pakistan remains ignored. In 2016, only 12% of infrastructural development funds were allocated to Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). This number pales in comparison to the 70% allocated to Punjab and other areas. This is one of many reflections of what several Balochi scholars and activists refer to as Punjabi Fascism. Furthermore, it exacerbates the fear that Balochistan will be excluded from any potential rewards that the CPEC promises to bring.
Balochistan province continues to be one of the poorest regions in the world. An average resident of Balochistan lives on less than US$1 a day, with little to no access to potable drinking water. The province continues to have the highest infant and maternal mortality rate, the lowest literacy rate, as well as the highest poverty rate, in Pakistan.
Nine out of every ten girls are out of school in rural Balochistan — UNPO.org
There have been five separate waves of insurgency stemming from the region since its accession, with the most recent beginning in 2003. It is likely that the recent attack on the Stock Exchange in Karachi is a foreshadowing of the sixth. The Pakistani state has stepped up its operations in the region too — protection of key infrastructure in the region is imperative for the government to continue filling Chinese and Pakistani coffers. There has been an extensive amount of kill-and-dump operations conducted by Pakistani security forces, in which they abduct Baloch people and kill them. If and when the bodies are found, there are visible signs of torture and/or mutilation.
Such enforced disappearances are a hallmark of Pakistan’s reign of terror, and with no adequate mechanism to hold the security forces to account, the Balochis have little recourse. The Interior Minister of Pakistan acknowledged that around 1,100 Baloch people have disappeared, however, Baloch activists claim that the actual number is nearly tenfold.
Chinese Interests
The Gwadar Port is just one of the several initiatives undertaken for Chinese benefit. During the discussions for the sale of M-9 and M-11 missiles to Pakistan, China asked for a 20-year lease to the mineral-rich areas of Chagai in Balochistan. The deal was concluded, and the missiles were delivered to Pakistan in 1993. Chinese mining activities in the region, while in murky legal waters already, have not benefitted the locals by way of employment either. Pakistanis are only employed for driving and external security roles. Chinese mining operations continue in the region until today, with security for two goldmines apparently provided by the frontier corps of the Pakistan Army and/or the Baloch Rangers.
Furthermore, the aforementioned goldmines are connected with small airstrips — making it likely that they are used for the export of processed ore. These airstrips are unlisted i.e. flights to these locations cannot be monitored. An article in The Print describes these in detail and draws the conclusion that the export of gold from Pakistan may be taking place without the knowledge of the State Bank of Pakistan.
This is just one instance of what many experts call the de facto colonisation of Pakistan by China. Thus, any Indian covert action in the region must focus on making sure that investments in these business interests are not viable. On the whole, a Baloch province with greater autonomy would make sure that this exploitation is put to an end. Such steps would be a strategic blow to China. Given India’s opposition to China’s nefarious designs implemented via the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), it would be a boon for us.
An Indian Adventure
India has consistently adopted a non-interventionist policy for its neighbourhood throughout history, save for the exception of Bangladesh. By endeavouring to empower our neighbours rather than dominate them, we have emerged as a moralistic force in the region, as well as the world. However, in the current scenario, the intrinsically Indian spirit of collaboration and good faith is likely to waver in the face of China’s deep pockets. The Citizenship Amendment Bill, for instance, maybe our primary talking point in regards to oppressed minorities in our neighbourhood. However, subjecting it to international scrutiny when there are large scale protests against it at home would create a major impediment.
Pakistan’s stature in the international community has diminished greatly over the past few years, in some part due to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey-list and the United States’ blocking military aid to Pakistan.
China may not voice any concerns either — throughout history, people have rarely mattered to them as much as resources and infrastructure. If the independent criticism of both these countries isn’t enough, the death sentence of Balochistan jointly signed by China and Pakistan surely is.
India must restart on a greater scale, what was set off in 2016 — when Smt Sushma Swaraj raised the issue of Balochistan at the UN, and PM Modi referred to the Baloch struggle from the ramparts of the Red Fort in his speech on India’s Independence Day. Of course, political support of what Pakistan considers terrorists would drag us down to their level, and not contribute to the Baloch cause since it would appear a tit-for-tat response to Pakistan’s support of the insurgency in Kashmir. Openly supporting a secessionist movement in a foreign country, even if it has been an enemy nearly since its existence, shall also reflect poorly on us.
In this regard, by way of initial steps, we can simply propagate the narrative, and popularise the sentiment. Overtly fuelling the fire is enough — interested intelligence agencies and Baloch activists may do the cooking on their own. This is one of the many fault lines we can covertly exploit in Pakistan, just like how they do with us in Kashmir, and used to do with tribal insurgents in the Northeast. However, our covert options are plenty and may be covered in a future article.
The greatest threats to a charged Indian endeavour are the ripple effects from calls for an independent Balochistan that will be felt in Iran and Afghanistan. Hence, a measured and methodical plan is required. Championing the Baloch cause, with no harm to relations with Iran and Afghanistan, will be a delicate line that our diplomats would surely walk with ease. After all, it is established beyond all doubt, that the Baloch deserve better. However, we must not get complacent due to the historically warm relations with either of those countries. Furthermore, we must prepare to give direction to our identity as a moral and political power, even if we aren’t an economic one.
2020, in particular, has been an interesting lesson in world affairs — politics and ideologies often prevail over economic interests. Advocating the cause of human rights and equal treatment of the Baloch, without an overt mention of a separate Baloch state, will douse whatever little fire we face for the situation in Kashmir. It would also be consistent with the Prime Minister’s promise to an all-party delegation in 2016 about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. More importantly, it will signal to our adversaries and the world at large, that we are prepared to give as good as we get.
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References:
1. Pakistan: The Balochistan Conundrum, by Tilak Devasher
2. In Afghanistan’s Shadow: Baluch Nationalism and Soviet Temptations, by Selig Harrison