Balochistan: An unnecessary tragedy – Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

The Baloch history of resisting aggressors forms the crux of its culture and they are brought up in an ethos that equates freedom with dignity.

Most people know Balochistan as simply 44 per cent land mass of Pakistan which it is but what many people do not know is that it didn’t become 44 percent by choice; it wanted coexistence but was forced into merger. Moreover it isn’t ‘terra nullius’ a land without people but this is always conveniently forgotten. There are people too; people whose lives have been destroyed with the injustices that have been the norm since March 27th 1948 but unfortunately this is generally ignored by those in power and the people in general.

Balochistan is an unnecessary tragedy which wouldn’t and shouldn’t have happened. The Pakistani elite and establishment were extremely insecure and desired to implement and impose conformity in name of religion. They never had imagined they could become rulers and unaware of the different and multiple social ethoses they were confronted with sought solutions by using force as their colonial masters had ingrained in them and that created everlasting resentment among people.

BIGGER PICTURE: ‘Spy’ arrest gives Pakistan ammo on Balochistan

If Kashmir has been in turmoil since 1990, separatism and insurgency have been a feature of Baloch history since they became part of Pakistan

By Manoj Joshi

The arrest of a retired Indian Navy Commander, Kulbhushan Jadhav, allegedly for spying and other activities in Balochistan, is a coup of sorts for Islamabad.

For years now Pakistan has claimed that India is involved in Baloch separatism, but has not been able to provide a shred of evidence. Now, if we are to believe Islamabad’s version of events in the Jadhav case, they have it in good measure.