After independence, two separate countries were born. One is India and the other is Pakistan. Relations between the two countries have never improved since the partition. The two countries have been at war more than once over border disputes. Every time Pakistan loses diplomacy and war. In this case, India's most significant diplomatic victory was to help East Pakistan create a new state in the form of independent Bangladesh through the Indo-Pak war in 1971. However, after repeated defeats in the war, Pakistan changed its war policy.
Unable to cope with the military, Pakistan began providing financial support to extremist and terrorist organizations. The result is evidence of militant attacks in various parts of India. Examples include the Mumbai Attack, the Pulwama Attack, and the URI attack. For all these reasons, Pakistan's relations with India have deteriorated.
India has repeatedly accused Pakistan of aiding and abetting extremist groups, but Pakistan has repeatedly denied the allegations. India has repeatedly accused Pakistan of aiding and abetting extremist or terrorist organizations, but Pakistan has denied the allegations. However, at the international level, Pakistan's anti-social activities have led to various criticisms.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has recently listed Pakistan as gray. Gray-listed countries are those that support and finance an extremist or terrorist organization for anti-social activities. As a result, the gray-listed countries will not be able to borrow from the World Bank or any international lending organization.
Despite all this, economically weakened Pakistan continues to support extremist or terrorist groups to keep India's internal riots and unrest active. In this case, the crisis in Balochistan is significant as a trump card for India to stop the activities of Pakistan. Because the citizens of Balochistan from time to time separated from Pakistan and revolted to demand a separate country. Many anti-Pak organizations are active here (Balochistan). According to international relations experts, India could put diplomatic pressure on Pakistan over the Balochistan issue.
But what is the Balochistan conflict and why is Balochistan the cause of Pakistan's headaches. Before knowing that, let us know about the history, geographical location, and importance of Balochistan.
The geographical location of Balochistan
Balochistan is one of the four provinces of present-day Pakistan. It is a province in southwestern Pakistan. During British rule, Balochistan was divided into four states called Makran, Kharan, Lasbela, and Kalat. Later, however, the Gwadar region was bought by Pakistan from Oman in 1956.
Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan in terms of geographical size. The total area of Balochistan is 3,47,190 sq km, which occupies 48% of the total area of Pakistan.
Although the province of Balochistan is thought to have been named after the inhabitants of the Baloch nation, many differ on the history of naming. According to many, the people of Balochistan used to call this land 'Moka' or 'Maka'. Over time, it changed its name to Makran.
Balochistan is bordered by the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan to the northeast, the Indus to the southeast, the Arabian Sea to the south, Iran to the west, and Afghanistan to the north and northeast.
The importance of Balochistan
Why Balochistan is important to Pakistan, they are described in a few parts below-
- First - Balochistan is the largest of the four provinces of Pakistan. Naturally, Balochistan is very important in Pakistan as it is the largest in size. Although it is the largest in terms of size, it is one of the least populous in Pakistan (7%). Due to its relatively small population compared to the total territory, it is impossible for the Pakistani government to prevent any anti-state activities here. Because it is almost impossible to find the Baloch rebels in an area of 3,47,190 square kilometers. With this geographical advantage, the Baloch rebels started revolt movements from different places.
- Second - Balochistan is rich in various natural resources such as natural gas, copper, gold, etc. Able to revive the debt-ridden Pak economy.
- Thirdly - Balochistan plays a very important role in terms of geographical location. Balochistan, on the one hand, shares borders with the other three provinces of Pakistan, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Indus. On the other hand, it shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran. Balochistan is very important to Pakistan for land communication and trade with Central Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
The cause of the Balochistan conflict
Although there are many causes for the Balochistan problem, at present there are a few special ones -
Historical reasons
The Balochistan conflict dates back to the post-independence period of the Indo-Pakistani partition. During the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, Balochistan agreed to join Pakistan. Prior to independence, Balochistan was mainly known as Makran, Kharan, Lasbela, and Kalat.
According to sources, three months before independence, Ali Jinnah agreed with the ruler of a state called Kalat to join Pakistan. Shortly after independence, Kalat was asked to join Pakistan as soon as possible, but the ruler refused. The Pak government then declared a military coup and on 1 April 1948 was able to bring Balochistan under its control. Since then, the Baloch rebels have been agitating against the unjust occupation of Balochistan and the demand for a separate independent state of Balochistan.
Human Rights Violations
From time to time, Baloch citizens have been accused of torture and human rights abuses by Pakistani troops.
Economic Exploitation
Despite Balochistan is one of the richest provinces in Pakistan in terms of natural resources, its infrastructure has not been developed as compared to all other provinces. The reluctance of the Pak government towards the development of Balochistan and the lack of people-oriented development is seen. For example, about 35-45% of Pakistan's total extracted natural gas is extracted from Balochistan, but only 17% is allocated to the people of Balochistan.
Unemployment (tied to the employment of Baloch citizens), neglect of Baloch citizens, and linguistic inequality, despite being a Muslim state, often lead to riots among themselves. For these reasons, the Baloch people demanded an independent state.
