Nationalism Rising in Balochistan in Face of Pak's Repressive Crackdown

Baloch insurgency intensifies; Pakistan's crackdown fuels separatist resistance, human rights violations, and geopolitical instability in South Asia.

- LT GEN SUNIL SRIVASTAVA (RETD)

In Balochistan, Pakistan's largest and most resource-rich province, home to nearly 12.5 million Baloch ethnolinguistic minority spread between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, of whom more than 70% live in multidimensional poverty—much above the national average of 39%, the separatist flame is burning more fiercely than ever. Despite its abundant mineral wealth—gold, natural gas, coal, copper, and diamonds—Balochistan remains Pakistan's most neglected region due to Islamabad's decades-long policy of economic marginalization, political exclusion, cultural hegemony (Punjabi) and draconian repression, despite repeated promises of provincial autonomy.

Over decades, Islamabad's endemic neglect and heavy-handed military operations have stoked the entrenched resentment into an insurgency that, together with the separatist movement in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa (KPK) Province, has the potential to deeply fracture Pakistan's national cohesion.

Legacy of Repression and Neglect
Balochistan's separatist struggle commenced in 1948 as a sub-nationalist resistance against forced integration, barely a year after Pakistan's creation. Balochistan became a province only in 1970. Repeated brutal attempts by Pakistan's Military to crush the waves of Balochistan's insurgent movements, including the brutal crackdown (1973-77) after Pakistan's defeat in the 1971 War, have failed. The separatist flames resurfaced in the early 2000s and have grown stronger in surrenders in 2016-17. While Pakistan's Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIED) has recorded 2752 cases of Baloch people between 2011-January 2024, figures cited by Voice of Baloch Missing Persons cite a figure of over 7,000 since 2000. The current insurgency has been incited by the deep scars of grief, frustration and anger of the bereaved Baloch people.