Making sense of Balochistan

G Parthasarathy

AT the all-party meeting on August 13, PM Narendra Modi said: “There cannot be any compromise on national security, but we have to win the confidence of the people of J&K”. He directly blamed Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism for fomenting unrest in the Valley. Significantly, he added that Pakistan must be exposed globally for atrocities in PoK (including Gilgit-Baltistan) and Balochistan. It was therefore inevitable that he would reiterate this during his address to the nation on Independence Day. 

Quite obviously, the PM’s statements were crafted after careful consideration of the geopolitical and regional situation, with particular focus on the internal and external challenges Pakistan, the epicentre of global terrorism, now faces. These challenges do not arise from developments across Pakistan’s eastern borders with India, but on its western borders with Afghanistan and Iran.

Pakistan’s brutal suppression of the Baloch people has been a continuing feature since its birth.  The then ruler of Balochistan, the Khan of Kalat, pointed out that Balochistan historically held a status different from other princely states in British India. Barely 10 days before independence on August 4, 1947, Jinnah agreed that “Kalat will be independent, on August 5, 1947, enjoying the same status it originally held in 1838, having friendly relations with its neighbours”. On the same day, an agreement was signed, with Pakistan stating: “The government of Pakistan agrees that Kalat is an independent State, being quite different in status from other states of India.” It was through treachery, deceit and fraud that Pakistan seized control of Balochistan. Baloch nationalists have since fought wars continuously with Pakistan in 1948, 1958-1959, 1962-63 and 1973-74. The bloodiest conflict, which continues today, began in 2003. Thousands of Baloch youths have “disappeared” after being taken into custody by the Pakistan army. Legally, Pakistan’s claims of sovereignty over Balochistan are questionable.

Fears that India will somehow get drawn into a quagmire by expressing solidarity with the Baloch are ridiculous as we do not share border with Balochistan. The Baloch freedom fighters have traditionally received haven and support from their kin living along the Balochistan-Pakistan border and financial support from Baloch nationalists abroad. Moreover, while there are no controversies on Balochistan’s borders with Afghanistan, the Afghans and, indeed, Pashtuns on both sides of the Durand Line have never accepted the Durand Line, arbitrarily drawn as the border between British India and Afghanistan in 1893. The late Khan Abdul Ghaffar, a stalwart of our freedom struggle, insisted that he should be buried at Jalalabad in Afghanistan, symbolising his rejection of the Durand Line. The senior-most Pashtun leader in Pakistan, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, recently asserted that historically the borders of the Pashtuns have extended up to Attock on the banks of the Indus.

PM Modi’s statement on Independence Day came at a time when tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan are high, with Afghanistan’s refusal to accept any fencing or gates to denote the Durand Line as being the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. There have been shootouts between Afghan and Pakistani forces recently on this issue, as Afghans have opposed Pakistani moves to fence or otherwise seek to portray the Durand Line as international border. Tensions have only grown with the Pakistan army launching massive military operations against Pashtun tribals in Khyber and North Waziristan agencies, using fighter air strikes. Over 1.5 million Pashtun tribals have been rendered homeless, with around 1 lakh fleeing across the Durand Line into Afghanistan, vowing to return to their homes, with many ready to resort to the use of arms. The army and the Nawaz Sharif government are also at a loss on how to deal with the situation that has flowed from the reckless use of force against tribals in an area, which is disputed. Allegations have already started about our RAW and its Afghan counterpart, the National Directorate of Security, joining hands to stoke the fire, both in Balochistan and across the disputed Durand Line, separating Afghanistan and Pakistan.

These developments are now assuming international dimensions. The US has warned Pakistan that it will not hesitate to repeat actions like those it took to eliminate former Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour with a drone attack in Balochistan. The American military commander in Afghanistan, Gen John Nicholson, has urged India to step up its military assistance to Afghanistan by the supply of additional MI-35 attack helicopters and spares for Soviet-era equipment with the Afghan army. General Nicholson frankly stated: “We have seen the LeT presence and operations in Afghanistan. Our goal is to prevent these groups (Haqqani Network, Taliban and LeT) from regaining sanctuaries.” He added that the LeT was born in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan and that it had essentially been an ISI subsidiary for operations in India. While maintaining covert contacts with the Taliban, China has stepped in (unsuccessfully so far) to facilitate a deal between the Taliban and the Afghan government. China believes that a Pakistan-supported, Taliban-led government will not support its oppressed Muslim minority in Xinjiang.

Balochistan is strategically important for China, which has an interest in the province’s vast mineral resources of gold and copper in the Chagai district, where Pakistan conducted its 1998 nuclear tests. More importantly, China’s $46 billion OBOR project links its Xinjiang Province to the Pakistani port of Gwadar in Balochistan, which is located astride India’s energy corridors to the oil-rich Persian Gulf. There are growing indications that Gwadar will be a major hub of China-Pakistan maritime military cooperation. China has pledged to strengthen Pakistan’s navy with significant supplies of new submarines and frigates. People in Balochistan have been infuriated by massive Chinese assistance to Pakistan for projects in Balochistan from which they derive virtually no benefit. Chinese engineers working on these projects have been attacked and killed. Balochistan is set to become increasingly important strategically, as an assertive China seeks to co-opt its “all-weather friend” Pakistan for strengthening its military presence in the western part of the Indian Ocean. It would be disingenuous to pretend that what happens in Balochistan is of no interest to India.