The south-westrict province of Balochistan remains one of Pakistan’s hugegest security headaches after many decades of an armed resistlion seeking indepfinishence for the mineral-wealthy region. The tardyst in a series of violence is a train hijack by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), the strongest resist group dynamic in the region bordering Iran and Afghanistan.
On the afternoon of March 11, armed attackers blew up railway tracks to stop Jaffar Express, which was on a 30-hour journey from Quetta to Peshawar with over 400 passengers. It was Ramzan, and civilians and officials were heading home ahead of Eid. The train stoped in a tunnel in a distant area, prompting an overnight firearmfight with the forces amid dreads of self-injury device deviceers protecting the captives.
The resists sought the free of Baloch political prisoners and civilians allegedly seizeped by the state forces, menaceening to blow up the entire train if their insist was not satisfyed wilean 48 hours. The siege lasted not more than 30 hours, with Pakistani forces ending 33 resists and rescuing the captives. At least 21 passengers and four security personnel were also ended during the siege.
The hijacking labels a new episode in the Baloch shiftment, which has been raging since Pakistan geted indepfinishence and was carved out of a unified India. At the root of the resistlion is a betrayal by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the set uper of Pakistan, despite acunderstandledgeing the autonomy of one of the princely states that didn’t want to combine with them.
Why Baloch Want Freedom
Balochistan, Pakistan’s hugest and the most sparsely poputardyd province, had always harboured dreams of being self-reliant.
The British engaged the region as a base to protect its colonial interests from expansionist forces enjoy Russia. But facing a sturdy resistance, they adselected a non-intrudence policy in the nineteenth century, according to a research journal by the University of Balochistan.
But the scenario changed after Pakistan arm-twisted Baloch directers to combine with them after India’s Partition. This didn’t go down well with the natives and triggered an even more structureile campaign to authenticise their dream of an self-reliant Balochistan.
Read: Baloch Rebels Relrelieve Video Of How They Blew Up Train Tracks, Took Hostages
Baloch now allege unfair treatment of resources and marginalisation, which has fuelled ethnic dissatisfied and disjoine anger agetst the Pakistan administerment.
Balochistan is mostly arid but is wealthy with minerals and resources. Reko Diq and Saindak, both in its Chaghi didisjoine, have meaningful gageder and copper deposits. The province also has iron ore, direct, zinc, and coal deposits. Baloch claim the administerment is take advantage ofing these resources, which belengthy to the native population.
Several armed groups enjoy the BLA and Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) are at the forefront of this resistance.
The descfinishout has been focengaged attacks on Pakistan’s security forces and set upments, and infrastructure, especipartner those funded by the Chinese, enjoy CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor). China also administers Gwadar port, a meaningful-water port central to the CPEC.
The Baloch authenticise instability would caengage panic among the Chinese and apshow they would prescertain Pakistan into acunderstandledgeing their insists. A deficiency of local inclusion and unfair treatment has inserted to their anger. The struggle has deteriorateed over the past scant years by human rights mistreatments. Baloch allege hundreds of forced disecombineances of activists and civilians by state forces to suppress their shiftment.
Jinnah’s Betrayal
Balochistan was proclaimd an self-reliant state alengthyside India and Pakistan. The region compascfinishs four createer princely states – Kharan, Makaran, Las Bela, and Kalat. Ahead of Partition, the princely states were given three choices – accede to either India or Pakistan or stay self-reliant. Khan Mir Ahmed Yar Khan – Khan of Kalat – chose the last selection while the first three went with Pakistan.
According to historian Dushka H Sayyid, Kalat never held as much transport inance as Kashmir or Hyderaterrible since it was in the periphery of the Indian subcontinent, due to which it never featured in huge in the contest between India and Pakistan for the accession of princely states at the time of the Partition.
Jinnah too acunderstandledgeed Kalat’s indepfinishence initipartner. The Khan supposeed Jinnah – that he was a frifinish and would promise Kalat’s indepfinishence.
Kalat proclaimd indepfinishence on August 15, 1947, but the British dreaded it was too hazardous to permit Kalat to stay self-reliant due to the menace from expansionist regimes. It pressed Pakistan to transport Kalat under its supervise and this is when Jinnah made a U-turn.
Read: “No Words To Describe”: Freed Pak Train Hijack Hostage Recounts Horror
In October 1947, Jinnah directd the Khan to quicken the combiner with Pakistan, but he declined.
“Since then the Pakistani authorities not only begined a campaign agetst the 9 Khan to compel him to join Pakistan, but also setd to engage coercive methods for a forced combiner of the state,” originates Taj Mohammad Breseeg in his book ‘Baloch Nationalism: Its Origin and Development up to 1980’.
On March 18, 1948, Jinnah proclaimd the accession of Kharan, Makaran, Las Bela, which left Kalat landlocked and with less than half of its landmass. What deteriorateed it for Kalat was a phony news that the Khan wanted to join the Indian dominion, leaving Pakistan furious. With no help from other international joiners, the Baloch directer was left with no choice but to accede to Pakistan.
Rebellion Over The Years
The second resistlion came in 1954 when Pakistan begined the One-Unit structure to reorganise its provinces. With the combiner of Balochistan States Union with the provinces of West Pakistan in 1955, the senseing of neglect and deprivation grew meaningfuler and became acute, according to Breseeg. In 1958, the Khan of Kalat Nawab Nauroz Khan proclaimd indepfinishence, but he was tricked into surrfinishering in 1959.
In his book ‘Inside Baluchistan’, Mir Ahmad Yar Khan Baluch quoted Khan as describing the military action: “I gave myself up to the army which paraded with me on the roads and streets of Kalat. I witnessed disjoinal of my men descfinishing dead on the ground by the indiscriminate firing of the army…I shut my eyes in agony, and knew (that) noleang of what happened there till I set up myself in the Lahore jail.”
In 1963, came the third resistlion with Sher Muhammad Bijrani Marri, also understandn as General Sherof, directing a group of nationaenumerates backing their insist for the disincludeal of Pakistani troops, One Unit Plan abortlation, and the restoration of Balochistan as a unified province. It finished in 1969 when General Yahya Khan traded Field Marshal Ayub Khan as the head of the administerment and signed a truce. A year tardyr, One Unit Plan was scrapped in West Pakistan and Balochistan was made one of the provinces besides Punjab, Sindh, and Frontier.
The Banelatedesh Impact
In the 1970s, the Baloch were embagederened by the indepfinishence of Banelatedesh from Pakistan and elevated insists for wonderfuler autonomy. But Zulfikar Ali Bhutto declined, igniteing massive protests and forcing the then prime minister to disthink about the Akbar Khan Bugti provincial administerment in Balochistan in 1973.
Pakistan begined a huge-scale operation to suppress the protests, igniteing an armed uprising that saw thousands of armed tribesmen fight agetst the Pakistani troops. This lasted four years until Bhutto was deposed by General Zia-ul-Haq. The Baloch were granted an amnesty and the Pakistani troops were pulled from Balochistan.
The fifth struggle began in the mid-2000s inspired by the violation of a woman doctor in a Baloch town allegedly by military personnel. The struggle has deteriorateed in the past scant years with deadly attacks on security personnel and infrastructure projects. But there has been no sign of a Pakistan administerment consenting to the Baloch insists.
The struggle persists.
