By Himdad Mustafa
Balochis are an ethnic group native to Balochistan, in Southwest Asia. In the last century, with the foundation of modern nation-states, their homeland was occupied and divided between Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. There are no reliable statistics regarding the total number of Baloch people, though in 2013 their population was estimated at around 10 million.[1] Approximately, around 70 percent of the total Baloch population lives in Pakistan-controlled Balochistan, whereas 20 percent inhabits the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan, and around 10 percent resides in the southern areas of Afghanistan.
Throughout the 20th century and up to today, Balochis have faced systematic discrimination, massacres, and forced resettlement. They have been deprived of their cultural, social, economic, and political rights in their own homeland.[2] After the foundation of the Islamic Republic in 1979, due to their adherence to Sunni Islam, the Balochis in Iran have become subjected to religious discrimination in addition to the existing ethnic discrimination.
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