As the dust of another deadly conflict settles over the scarred ridges of Sulaiman and Kirthar ranges in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but most sparsely populated province, a volatile mix of long-ignored grievances, a brutal rebellion, proxy wars and high-stakes geopolitics erupts again.
For nearly 40 hours, a fierce battle was waged in those ridges in what officials called a “desperate” wave of coordinated separatist attacks across more than a dozen locations in the southwestern province of Balochistan, claimed by the banned group Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which for decades has been fighting for an independent state.
Nearly 200 people were killed in the attacks – 31 civilians, 17 security personnel, in addition to 145 BLA fighters – more than 100 of them on Saturday alone, according to the Pakistani army. It was one of the biggest and most brazen attacks carried out by Baloch separatists, whose claim, however, of killing 84 Pakistani security personnel was dismissed by the authorities. In the provincial capital, Quetta, where the scars of the decades-old conflict could be seen over the city’s police academy, the courts and the bazaars, the official message is once again of unwavering control.
“Our security forces, personnel and officers have fought bravely,” said Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, framing the BLA attacks as the “last gasp of a cornered enemy”.
Yet, this narrative of dominance is punctuated by the sobering death toll: more than a dozen security personnel killed and civilian families caught in the crossfire. The power move – of trying to project more power than actually wielding it – feels true for both sides. slamabad’s response to separatist attacks, once meticulously framed, is now a routine occurrence. The fighters are cadres of “Fitna-al-Hindustan”, which in Urdu translates to “India’s incitement”, it alleged. New Delhi has not yet responded to the charge.
The nomenclature of a “foreign hand” is now the cornerstone of Pakistan’s national security narrative, linking every attack to the hand of Islamabad’s historical rival. The complex, locally-rooted Baloch grievances are subsumed into a simpler, catchier, blame-shifting story of foreign subterfuge. It echoes past government statements, which blamed “neighbouring countries” for trying to derail its key economic projects.
The narrative of blaming the neighbours also positions the Pakistani military not as a party to an internal dispute, but as a defender of Pakistan’s territorial sanctity. But it is more than a narrative.
Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian national arrested and sentenced to death for espionage by a Pakistani court in 2016, is a living exhibit of Pakistan’s case against external interference. Pakistan had released a video that appeared to show Jadhav confessing to facilitating attacks in Balochistan. While India denied involvement, Jadhav’s testimony fits the strategic nationalisation of a provincial conflict. In the hushed conversations at Quetta’s tea shops, a different, more intimate story of political marginalisation and economic injustice unfolds, as residents wonder how poverty remains entrenched despite the province’s immense mineral wealth.
The promise of the $46bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), centred on the port of Gwadar in Balochistan, is viewed by locals not as a boon, but as one that might benefit Beijing and Islamabad, not the Baloch fishermen or shepherds.
“Sir, are you crazy!” exclaimed a security official at a coal mine in Spin Karez, where Al Jazeera had reached to document the plight of miners dying due to a lack of proper equipment.
“The insurgents [rebels] come in their hundreds and pick up everything, including [paramilitary] checkpoints. Who said it’s safe for you to be in this area?” he went on.
Baloch separatists have often raided mines and killed workers from other provinces who came looking for a livelihood. The encounter is one of many incidents in Balochistan as the province feels like the “Wild West” – no rules, no one really in charge.
Source: Here