THE BALOCHISTAN CONFLICT

TodAy’s BAloChistAn region in south-western

Pakistan was originally made up of the princely states of Makran, Kalat, Las Bela and Kharat.

In 1947, when IndiA And PAkistAn BeCAme

independent nations, the rulers of Makran, Las Bela and Kharat ceded to Pakistan. The Khan of Kalat initially asserted his independence from both nations, only to accede to the latter in 1948.

BAloCh ACtivists Argue thAt KAlAt And, in

effect, all of Balochistan, were ‘annexed’ by Pakistan’s first prime minister, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, a view that has fuelled insurgency movements over nearly seven decades.

BAloCh insurgenCies CAme in four mAjor

waves: 1948, 1958-59, 1963-69 and 1973-77. The conflict returned to the fore after a 2004 car bomb at the under-construction Gwadar port killed three Chinese workers.

The insurgenCy movement is driven

by a sense of alienation that comes from the Baloch sense of being culturally different from, say, the Punjabis or Pashtuns, and from a sense of their region being neglected.

BAloChistAn, PAkistAn’s lArgest provinCe,

is also its least-developed. It is mined for natural gas, copper, iron and crude oil but has poor road and rail infrastructure itself.

IlliterACy And poverty rAtes Are high.

According to the Pakistan Economic Survey for 2015-16, Balochistan’s literacy rate is 44%, compared to a national average of 60%. Pakistan’s 2016 report on multidimensional poverty revealed figures of 71% in the region, against a national average of 39%.