Pakistan- the Balochistan Conundrum

by Tilak Devasher

  8. ICG, Crisis Group interview, National Party (NP) President Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch, Islamabad, January 2006, ICG Report, 2006, p. 1.

  9. HRCP Report, 2009, p. 12.

  10. HRCP Report, 2011, p. 9.

  11. Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), ‘Balochistan: Civil–Military Relations’, Islamabad, March 2012, http://www.pildat.org/publications/ublication/cmr/issuepaperbalochistanconflictcmr.pdf, pp. 7, and 17, (accessed on 3 March 2018).

  12. ICG, Crisis Group interview, Quetta, March 2006, ICG Report, 2006, p. 12.

  13. International Crisis Group (ICG), ‘Pakistan: The Forgotten Conflict in Balochistan’, Asia Report, 22 October 2007, p. 3, https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/pakistan/pakistan-forgotten-conflict-balochistan, (accessed on 2 March 2018).

  14. Naseer Dashti, The Baloch Conflict with Iran and Pakistan, Bloomington: Trafford Publishing, 2007, p. 218.

  15. ‘BNP-M pledges support to Imran Khan after inking deal with PTI’, The News, 09 August 2018, https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/352512-bnp-m-pledges-support-to-imran-khan-after-inking-deal-with-pti, (accessed on 4 January 2019).

  16. ICG Report, 2006, p.10.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Ibid., p. 11.

  19. Ibid.

  20. HRCP Report, 2009, p. 12; HRCP Report, 2011, p. 8.

  21. Robert D. Kaplan, ‘Pakistan’s Fatal Shore’, The Atlantic, May 2009 Issue, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/05/pakistans-fatal-shore/307385/, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  22. Carlotta Gall, ‘Pakistan’s Bitter, Little-Known Ethnic Rebellion’, The New York Times, 23 August 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/world/asia/24baluch.html, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  23. Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur, ‘Seeds and soil’, The News on Sunday (TNS), 12 November 2017, http://tns.thenews.com.pk/seeds-soil/#.WgfgaYhx3IU, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  24. Human Rights Watch, ‘Their Futures Are at Stake’, December 2010, p. 10, https://www.hrw.org/report/2010/12/13/their-future-stake/attacks-teachers-and-schools-pakistans-balochistan-province, (accessed on 2 March 2018).

  25. Jawad R. Awan, ‘Cut in funds, surgical ops curtail Baloch militancy’, The Nation, 24 February 2016, http://nation.com.pk/national/24-Feb-2016/cut-in-funds-surgical-ops-curtail-baloch-militancy, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  26. Naseer Dashti, The Baloch Conflict with Iran and Pakistan, pp. 221–22.

  27. Zahid Hussain, ‘Musharraf’s other war’, Newsline, January 2006, http://newslinemagazine.com/magazine/musharrafs-other-war/, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  28. Syed Irfan Raza, ‘BLA declared terrorist organisation, Banned’, Dawn, 10 April 2006, https://www.dawn.com/news/187183, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  29. ICG Report, 2006, p.12.

  30. The responsibility for many of the attacks was claimed by a BLA spokesperson, Azad (Free) Baloch.

  31. Haroon Rashid, ‘Interview: Akbar Khan Bugti’, Newsline, February 2005, http://newslinemagazine.com/magazine/interview-akbar-khan-bugti/, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  32. ICG, Crisis Group interview, Quetta, March 2006, ICG Report, 2006, p. 12.

  33. Ibid.

  34. Frederic Grare, ‘Balochistan: The State Versus the Nation’, p. 9.

  35. Naziha Syed Ali, ‘Situationer: Who’s who of Baloch insurgency’, Dawn, 1 June 2015, https://www.dawn.com/news/1185401, (accessed 27 February 2018).

  36. Naseer Dashti, The Baloch Conflict with Iran and Pakistan, p. 223.

  37. Naziha Syed Ali, ‘Situationer: Who’s who of Baloch insurgency’.

  38. Ibid.

  39. Naseer Dashti, The Baloch Conflict with Iran and Pakistan, p. 224.

  40. Ibid.

  41. Naziha Syed Ali, ‘Situationer: Who’s who of Baloch insurgency’.

  42. Naziha Syed Ali, ‘Situationer: Who’s who of Baloch Insurgency’; Naseer Dashti, The Baloch Conflict with Iran and Pakistan, pp. 222–23.

  43. Naseer Dashti, The Baloch Conflict with Iran and Pakistan, pp. 224–25.

  44. ‘Head money announced for 99 militants’, Dawn, 18 March 2016, http://www.dawn.com/news/1246411/head-money-announced-for-99-militants], (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  45. Naseer Dashti, ‘Resolving the Baloch National Question: aspects of a negotiated settlement’, https://www.thebaluch.com/050708_article.php, (accessed on 3 March 2018).

  46. For example, the army tried to physically eliminate Nawab Bugti at the very first opportunity, even before the negotiations between the latter and the Mushahid Hussain-led delegation started. See Frederic Grare, ‘Balochistan: The State Versus the Nation’, p. 10.

  47. Frederic Grare, ‘Balochistan: The State Versus the Nation’, p. 9.

  48. Declan Walsh, ‘Pakistan’s Secret Dirty War’, The Guardian, 29 March 2011, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/29/balochistan-pakistans-secret-dirty-war, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  49. ‘Balochistan schools abandon National Anthem, Senate told’, The News, 30 April 2009, https://www.thenews.com.pk/archive/ print/664146-balochistan-schools-abandon-national-anthem, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  50. Saeed Minhas, ‘Balochistan Diary: Army schools: too little, a bit too late’, Daily Times, 4 July 2010, cited in Sushant Sareen, ‘Balochistan: Forgotten War, Forsaken People’, Vivekananda International Foundation, September 2017, https://www.vifindia.org/monograph/2017/december/07/balochistan-forgotten-war-forsaken-people, (accessed on 3 March 2018).

  51. Taj Mohammad Breseeg, ‘Baloch and the right of self-determination’, http://bolanvoice.com/2012/08/17/baloch-and-the-right-of-self-determination/, (accessed on 3 March 2018).

  52. ICG, Crisis Group interview, Karachi, May 2007, ICG Report, 2007, p.13.

  53. Ibid.

  54. ICG, Crisis Group interview, BNP national parliamentarian Abdul Rauf Mengal, Islamabad, February 2006, ICG Report, 2006, p. 10.

  55. Mahvish Ahmad, ‘Balochistan: Middle-Class Rebellion’, Dawn, 5 June 2012, https://www.dawn.com/news/723987, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  56. Sasuie Abbas Leghari, ‘The Balochistan Crisis’, The News, 25 August 2012, www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-128196-The-Balochistan-crisis, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  57. Mahvish Ahmad, ‘The changing face of Balochistan’s separatist insurgency’, The Caravan, 1 July 2014, http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/home-front-changing-insurgency-balochistan, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  58. Shahzada Zulfiqar, ‘Rage Revisited’, The Herald, October 2006, p. 79.

  59. Justin S. Dunne, ‘Crisis in Baluchistan: A Historical Analysis of the Baluch Nationalist Movement in Pakistan’, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, June 2006, p. 46, https://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/2755/06Jun_Dunne.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y, (accessed 3 March 2018).

  60. Shahzada Zulfiqar, ‘The Baloch people consider the nationalist fighters as their saviours: Nawab Akbar Bugti’, Herald, March 2006, reprinted 23 September 2017, https://herald.dawn.com/news/1153865, (accessed on 2 March 2018).

  61. Dawn, 15 January 2006, cited in John C.K. Daly, ‘The Baloch Insurgency and its Threat to Pakistan’s Energy Sector’, The Jamestown Foundation Publication: Terrorism Focus, Vol. 3, Issue: 11, 21 March 2006, http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=709#.VmglHYSGWfQ, (accessed on 3 March 2018).

  62. Editor’s Note, Newsline, September 2006, https://newslinemagazine.com/magazine/editors-note-september-2006/, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  63. Syeda Abida Hussain, Power Failure, p. 626.

  64. ‘Political Prisoners of Pakistan: Akbar Khan Bugti’, http://politicalprisonersofpakistan.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/akbar-khan-bugti.html (22-03-2013), (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  65. HRCP Report, 2011, p. 9.

  66. ICG, Crisis Group telephone interview with Abdul Hayee Baloch, 31 August 2006. ICG Report, 2006, p. 26.

  67. ICG, Crisis Group interview, Karachi, May 2007, ICG Report, 2007, p. 13.

&nb
sp; 68. Saleem Shahid, ‘Grand Jirga in Kalat decides to move ICJ’, Dawn, 22 September 2006, https://www.dawn.com/news/211514/grand-jirga-in-kalat-decides-to-move-icj, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  69. ICG, Crisis Group interview, Quetta, July 2007, ICG Report, 2007, p. 12.

  70. ICG, Crisis Group interview, Karachi, May 2007, ICG Report, 2007, p. 12.

  71. Muhammad Ijaz Laif and Muhammad Amir Hamza, ‘Ethnic Nationalism in Pakistan: A Case Study of Baloch Nationalism during Musharraf Regime’, Pakistan Vision, Vol. 10, No. 1, p. 70, http://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/studies/PDF-FILES/Artical%20-%204.pdf, (accessed 3 March 2018)]

  72. Kanchan Lakshman, ‘The Neglected Insurgency’, Outlook, 7 June 2007,

  https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/the-neglected-insurgency/

  234811, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  73. ‘Seven dead, 27 hurt as 3 bomb blasts rock Quetta’, Dawn, 23 July 2000, cited in Sushant Sareen, ‘Balochistan: Forgotten War, Forsaken People’.

  74. ‘Quetta Staff College under rocket attack’, Frontier Post, 27 December 2000, cited in ibid.

  75. Naseer Dashti, The Baloch Conflict with Iran and Pakistan, p.199.

  76. Munawar Hasan, ‘24 rocket attacks in two years’, The Nation, 23 February 2003, and ‘Gas station blown up rupturing pipelines’, The News, 22 January 2003, cited in ibid.

  77. The Foreign Policy Centre, ‘The Balochis of Pakistan: On the Margins of History’, The Foreign Policy Centre, London, November 2006, p. 42, https://fpc.org.uk/publications/balochis-of-pakistan-on-the-margins-of-history/, (accessed on 3 March 2018).

  78. Cited in Sushant Sareen, ‘Balochistan: Forgotten War, Forsaken People’, p. 50.

  79. Zahid Hussain, ‘Gathering Storm’, Newsline, February 2005, cited in ICG Report 2006, p. 24.

  80. BBC, 18 January 2005, cited in John C. K. Daly, ‘The Baloch Insurgency and its Threat to Pakistan’s Energy Sector’.

  81. Sarfaraz Ahmed, ‘Sardars face rebellious tribesmen’, The Friday Times, 6–12 January 2006, cited in ICG Report, 2006, p. 9.

  82. Justin S. Dunne, ‘Crisis in Baluchistan: A Historical Analysis of the Baluch Nationalist Movement in Pakistan’.

  83. Carlotta Gall, ‘In Remote Pakistan Province, a Civil War Festers’, The New York Times, 2 April 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/world/asia/02pakistan.html?_r=0&pagewanted=all, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  84. Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT),

  ‘Balochistan: Civil-Military Relations’, Islamabad, March 2012, p. 15, http://

  www.pildat.org/publications/publication/cmr/issuepaperbalochistan

  conflictcmr.pdf, (accessed on 3 March 2018).

  85. Cited in ICG Report, 2006, fn 210, p. 25.

  86. Madiha Tahir, ‘From rallies to armed resistance in Balochistan’, Al Jazeera, 6 May 2014, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/05/from-rallies-armed-resistance-ba-20145665338680350.htm, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  87. Kaswar Klasra, ‘Capital Fruit Market Blast Kills 24’, The Nation, 10 April 2014, https://nation.com.pk/10-Apr-2014/capital-fruit-market-blast-kills-24, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  88. Madiha Tahir, ‘From rallies to armed resistance in Balochistan’.

  89. ICG Report, 2006, p. 17.

  90. South Asia Terrorism Portal, Institute of Conflict Management, data updated till 24 March 2019.

  91. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), ‘Conflict in Balochistan’, Report of the HRCP Fact-Finding Mission, August 2006, p. 43, http://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/wp-content/pdf/ff/20.pdf, (accessed on 3 March 2018).

  92. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), ‘Balochistan: Giving the People a chance’, Report of the HRCP Fact-Finding Mission, June 2013, p. 34, http://www.hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/wp-content/pdf/Balochistan%20Report%20New%20Final.pdf, p. 34, (accessed on 3 March 2018).

  93. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), ‘Hopes, Fears and Alienation in Balochistan’, Report of the HRCP Fact-Finding Mission, May 2012, p. 46, http://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/wp-content/pdf/ff/12.pdf, (accessed on 3 March 2018).

  94. Shahzada Zulfiqar, ‘Rage Revisited’.

  95. Salman Zaidi, ‘Policy Brief: Making Sense of Violence in Balochistan 2010’, Islamabad: Jinnah Institute, January 2010, http://jinnah-institute.org/policy-brief-making-sense-of-violence-in-balochistan-2010-2/, (accessed on 3 March 2018).

  96. ‘The Real Deal’, editorial in The Nation, 27 September 2016, http://nation.com.pk/editorials/27-Sep-2016/the-real-deal, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  97. ‘Brahumdagh Bugti’s appeal to India: a political ploy?’ editorial in Daily Times, 21 September 2016, http://dailytimes.com.pk/editorial/21-Sep-16/brahumdagh-bugtis-appeal-to-india-a-political-ploy, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  98. Malik Siraj Akbar, ‘Balochistan—Point of no Return?’, The Express Tribune, 12 January 2012, https://tribune.com.pk/story/319975/balochistan--point-of-no-return/, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  99. Inayatullah Baloch, The Problem of Greater Baluchistan: A Study of Baluch Nationalism, Stuttgart: Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden Gmbh, 1987, p. 28.

  100. Saleem Shahid, ‘265 militants in Balochistan surrender arms’, Dawn, 19 September 2018, https://www.dawn.com/news/1433819/265-militants-in-balochistan-surrender-arms, (accessed 30 September 2018).

  101. Saleem Shahid, ‘Led by top Baloch “commander”, 70 militants surrender’, Dawn, 21 November 2018, https://www.dawn.com/news/1446953/led-by-top-baloch-commander-70-militants-surrender, (accessed 28 November 2018).

  102. ‘560 militants surrender arms in Nasirabad’, The Nation, 3 January 2019, https://nation.com.pk/03-Jan-2019/560-militants-surrender-arms-in-nasirabad, (accessed 6 January 2019).

  103. Shezad Baloch, ‘Blaming India every time for the problems in Balochistan is really not the solution’, The Express Tribune blogs, 28 March 2017, http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/48004/blaming-india-everytime-for-the-problems-in-balochistan-is-really-not-the-solution-pakistan/, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  104. Ather Naqvi, ‘The windows of opportunities for peace were squandered through arrogance’, The News on Sunday, 23 August 2015, http://tns.thenews.com.pk/balochistan-mir-ali-talpur-windows-opportunities-peace-squandered-arrogance/#.WsDZXa2B10s, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  105. ‘Baloch surrenders—suspect timing?’ editorial in Daily Times, 30 June 2017, http://dailytimes.com.pk/editorial/30-Jun-17/baloch-surrenders-suspect-timing, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  106. ‘Wavering Baloch Resistance?’ editorial in The Nation, 29 June 2017, https://nation.com.pk/29-Jun-2017/wavering-baloch-resistance, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  107. ‘Who is surrendering in Balochistan? editorial in Daily Times, 30 January 2018,

  https://dailytimes.com.pk/191521/who-is-surrendering-in-balochistan/, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  17. The Response of the Government

  1. Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT),

  ‘Balochistan: Civil–Military Relations’, p. 7, http://www.pildat.org/publications/publication/cmr/issuepaperbalochistanconflictcmr.pdf, (accessed on 3 March 2018).

  2. International Crisis Group (ICG), Crisis Group interview, National Party leader, Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch, Karachi, April 2006, ‘Pakistan, The Worsening Conflict in Balochistan’, Asia Report No. 119—14 September 2006, p. 13, https://d2071andvip0wj.cloudfront.net/119-pakistan-the-worsening-conflict-in-balochistan.pdf, (accessed on 2 March 2018).

  3. Ibid.

  4. Discussed in the chapter on Human Rights Violations.

  5. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), ‘Balochistan: Giving the People a chance’, Report of the HRCP Fact-Finding Mission, June 2013, p. 37, http://www.hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/wp-content/pdf/Balochistan%20Report%20New%20Final.pdf, (accessed on 3 March 2018).

  6. Sairah Irshad Khan, ‘Interview: Jamil Bugti’, Newsline, September 2006, http://newslinemagazine.com/magazine/the-end-game/, (accessed on 3 March
2018).

  7. International Crisis Group (ICG), Crisis Group interview, Shahzada Zulfikar, July 2007, ‘Pakistan: The Forgotten Conflict in Balochistan’, Asia Report, 22 October 2007, p. 9, https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/pakistan/pakistan-forgotten-conflict-balochistan, (accessed on 2 March 2018).

  8. Zahid Hussain, ‘Gathering Storm’, Newsline, February 2005, p. 24, http://newslinemagazine.com/magazine/gathering-storm/, (accessed on 3 March 2018).

  9. Asghar Soomro, ‘Illusion of democracy in Balochistan’, The Express Tribune, 16 January 2018, https://tribune.com.pk/story/1609445/6-illusion-democracy-balochistan/, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  10. Taj Mohammad Breseeg, Baloch Nationalism, its origin and development, Karachi: Royal Book Company, 2004, p. 374.

  11. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), ‘Blinkered Slide into Chaos’, Report of the HRCP Fact-Finding Mission, June 2011, pp. 7–8, http://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/wp-content/pdf/ff/6.pdf, (accessed on 3 March 2018).

  12. Tariq Khosa, ‘The Balochistan saga’, Dawn, 21 December 2015, https://www.dawn.com/news/1227719, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  13. Amir Mateen, ‘Balochistan will stay if people stop leaving’, The News, 29 May 2012, https://www.thenews.com.pk/archive/print/622680-balochistan-will-stay-if-people-stop-leaving, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  14. Monis Ali, ‘The education crisis in Balochistan’, Daily Times, 26 October 2016. https://dailytimes.com.pk/49812/the-education-crisis-in-balochistan/, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  15. Abdullah Alam, ‘Balochistan education budget—one step backwards’, The Express Tribune, 10 July 2016, http://tribune.com.pk/story/1138481/balochistan-education-budget-one-step-backwards/, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  16. Adnan Aamir, ‘The Balochistan budget’, The News, 9 July 2016, https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/133513-The-Balochistan-budget, (accessed on 27 February 2018); Mushtaq Rajpar, ‘The political economy of Balochistan’, The News, 24 June 2017, https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/212514-The-political-economy-of-Balochistan, (accessed on 27 February 2018).

  17. HRCP Report, 2013, p. 32.

  18. Ibid., p.14.