QUETTA – A rocket attack on a main power transmission line linking two districts of Balochistan with the national power grid last week was not an isolated incident but part of a low intensity insurgency in the natural-resource-rich, yet least developed, southwestern province of Pakistan sandwiched between Iran and Afghanistan.
Many militancy problems in Balochistan revolve around local issues, with nationalists wanting more control over natural resources, along with greater economic and political rights.
The early months of this year saw the struggle turning violent with rocket attacks on vital government installations and functionaries becoming a routine affair.
The respected Herald monthly reported that attacks in Balochistan targeting government installations have been on the rise since this August, with incidents including the killing of five soldiers in Khuzdar district and an attack on the motorcade of the provisional chief minister.
The number of casualties in these attacks is, however, not known, though independent figures suggest they are more than 100.
The little known Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for most of these attacks and says its activities are in reaction to the ongoing military operations in the province meant to silence dissent and siphon off provincial resources.
"Look at the education, health, and other social indicators in the province. They are embarrassingly low compared to other even less developed areas of the country," said a young Baloch man, who says he is a supporter of the BLA and did not want to be identified.
"We are providing to Pakistan the most precious source of energy – natural gas. We are home to the country’s planned seaport, whose revenues would run into billions of dollars annually, but what are we getting in return?" he asked. "Army troops shoving us in the corner for demanding what is ours?"
"The BLA does not want to kill, but only wants to inflict pain by attacking vital installations so the military-run establishment listens to us," he told IPS.
The story of resistance in the area is a long one. As a result of the "great game," Balochistan was divided between Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan in the 19th century by the British.
In 1948, Pakistan annexed Balochistan against the will of the Baloch, which resulted in three wars of independence, the first led by Karim Khan in 1948, in 1968 led by Nawab Nowroz Khan, and then in 1973-1977 by many Baloch tribes led by Marri and Mengal chiefs. All of these wars for independence were ruthlessly crushed by the Pakistan army.
The disparities, too, are wide. There are gas reserves, which supply most of Pakistan with its energy but remain off limits to the local population.
Sui, for example, is the single largest source of natural gas to the entire country since the discovery of gas in the areas under the control of the notable Bugti tribe in the 1950s. However, people in the area are yet to be provided natural gas and are forced to use kerosene oil and wood for burning.
Similarly, the multi-billion dollar deep sea port in the coastal district of Gwadar, being built by the Chinese contractors, only employs one person from the province in its management committee, while the rest are all from outside. The project was neither approved by the provincial assembly or the Balochistan government, nor would the revenue it would generate be utilized by the province, explained Rauf Sasoli, a leader of the Jamhoori Watan Party.
Many Balochis fear that the port is only the latest example of what they term "entrenched internal colonialism," a federal project that exploits Balochistan’s resources with minimal benefit for the Balochis themselves.
A plan by the government to build three new military encampments in the province has fueled that fear.
"It’s about inequitable distribution of economic and political power in the federation. This is a reaction to the decades of neglect that the Baloch people have been suffering," commented Mohammad Sanaullah, a local lawyer here. Under the constitution, Pakistan is a federation of four provinces run under parliamentary democracy.
The demands of the Baloch people and political parties are clear: administrative and financial control of all development projects in the province with the Balochistan Assembly and the Balochistan government and a halt to the construction of new military cantonments in the province.
However, the Pakistan government and military officials have been brushing aside these demands and popular sentiments. Out of sheer frustration, the Baloch people have resorted to insurgency.
Islamabad blames the Balochistan unrest on vested tribal and political interests out to create instability and draw benefits.
Some other officials have even linked the almost daily attacks on government installations, such as power and gas supply installations and official buildings, to the presence of elements of al-Qaeda and Taliban in the areas bordering Afghanistan.
The Balochistan chief minister has even indicated that the BLA is the creation of Indian intelligence agencies, which are trying to create instability in the areas bordering Iran and Afghanistan to distract Pakistan from its role in the global war on terror. But political analysts say that such simplistic interpretations of the phenomenon would only impede any solution to the Balochistan problem.
"Negotiations with the Baloch parties and tribes as well as investment in the development of the people to increase the quality of lives of the poorest of the poor are what the government must do," Sarwar Bari, head of the Pattan Development Organization, told IPS.
Asim Sajjad Akhtar, convener of the People’s Rights Movement in Pakistan, expressed similar views, saying the solution to the people’s issues lies in the distribution of the dividends of development equitably. "Force only alienates people and creates new problems that only affect the poor people, further squeezing their opportunities for sustainable livelihoods."
However, the military seems to think the other way.
It says the attacks on important national installations are orchestrated by "miscreants," who need to be curbed by force.
"The ‘vested interests’ are bent upon opposing development projects in the province, and therefore, the establishment of new garrisons is necessary to ensure security," said Major General Shaukat Sultan, who heads the Inter-Services Public Relations, the mouthpiece for the country’s armed forces.
But Senator Sanaullah Khan Baloch, who belongs to the Balochistan National Party, disagrees with the military.
"I don’t see a reason for the military to establish permanent cantonments in these districts, as they are not bordering any hostile country," he told IPS. "They are just meant to curb the people of the province who are now rising up to claim ownership of their natural resources."
