The vast mountainous desert region in Pakistan’s southwest is known as Balochistan, or Land of the Baloch. Covering 347,190 square kilometres, Balochistan constitutes 44% of Pakistan’s total land mass. In the North and Northwest lies the Durand line, dividing Balochistan and Afghanistan. To the West is the Iranian border, and in the North & East the Indus river separates Balochistan from Sindh & Punjab respectively. South of Balochistan is the Arabian Sea, where the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz provides the shortest shipping route from the Middle & Near East to Central Asia. Balochistan is and has historically been a region of critical geopolitical significance.
Since the times of the Byzantines and Hellenistic dynasties, through the Mughal Empires, and during the British occupation, Balochistan has been a key strategic stronghold essential to maintaining control of the surrounding regions. Soon after the British exodus from British-India and the subsequent partition of British-India, the newly formed Pakistan quickly annexed the region through devious coercion and military force.
Throughout modern times, the people of Balochistan have had their fate dictated to them by the various occupational administrations. After fighting 2 wars against Afghanistan, the British administration arbitrarily divided Balochistan between Afghanistan, Iran, and the Princely States of Baluchistan. A single page agreement was signed in 1893 between Mortimer Durand and Afghan Amir Abdur Rahman Khan which ceded certain frontier regions and established the Durand Line border. After three years of extensive surveys, the Durand Line was officially established. Despite its arbitrary division of the ancestral homelands of families, tribes, & cultures, the Durand line has become recognized internationally and is still accepted as an official border today.
Fifty years after the British and Afghan administrations divided the Baloch nation with the Durand line, the British abandoned the region leaving behind the shattered remains of a once great civilization. The partitioning of Pakistan in 1947 established yet another arbitrarily drawn border, the Radcliffe Line. Although the Pakistan State was defined by the carelessly drawn Durand & Radcliffe lines, the international community recognized Pakistan as a legitimate country. The creation and acceptance of borders drawn by foreign hands, for the convenience of the immediate international agendas of the time, has resulted in widespread suffering and injustice for those divided by the Durand & Radcliffe lines.
Since the division of Balochistan through creation of the Durand line, the indigenous Baloch population was also divided, leaving them too few in number to effectively resist Pakistani occupation. Less than six months after the creation of Pakistan, Balochistan was forcibly annexed on March 27th 1948. Once Pakistan had established their occupation of Balochistan, they commenced an extensive plunder of Balochistan’s vast reserves of natural resources. While the Punjab regions of Pakistan enjoyed widespread urban development and infrastructure, Balochistan has been deprived of even the basic essentials of life.
Since the Black Day in 1948, the Pakistan army has conducted five violent military occupations of the region. The most severe occupation of Balochistan began in 2005, when General Pervez Musharraf invaded Balochistan to kill Shaheed Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and seize control of Balochistan’s natural resources. Since its inception, the population of Pakistan has been mired in poverty and corruption. Pakistan has notoriously allocated the nations funds and resources into their military rather than development of civil infrastructure and social services. This has resulted in widespread poverty and resistance to a corrupt regime. As living conditions in Pakistan continue to deteriorate, the Pakistani administration becomes increasingly desperate. Their desperation has manifested in the outright extermination of any Nationalist movements, especially the Baloch. Pakistan’s policies have deprived the Baloch of any benefit from the wealth of natural resources in Balochistan. Despite an abundance of natural resources and substantial potential for development, the Baloch have been subjected to enforced poverty, deprivation of civil infrastructure, and severe military oppression at the hands of Pakistan’s Army.
The Sui natural gas fields were discovered in Dera Bugti in 1952. By 1955 the Sui gas fields were commercially exploited. The Sui gas fields account for 6% of Pakistan’s total natural gas, producing over 604 million cubic feet (17.1×106 m3) per day. Experts estimate nearly 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas remains in the Sui natural gas fields. As well as natural gas, Balochistan is also a major producer of coal. Over 90% of Balochistan’s coal is mined and dispatched to other provinces in Pakistan. Baloch coal can potentially fulfill extensive energy requirements providing electricity to an otherwise deprived communities.
The Chagai Mountain area of Balochistan produces vast quantities of copper and gold. Mining firms such as the Tethyan Copper Company Ltd. & Barrick Gold Corporation operate out of the small Chagai town of Reko Diq, situated 70km North-West of Naukundi, near the Iranian border. The Antofagasta Group holds 50% of the Tethyan Copper Company Ltd. Tethyan has held a 75% interest in an exploration licence encompassing the Reko Diq deposit, with the Government of Balochistan (the provincial authority) holding the remaining 25% interest, resulting in an effective interest for the Antofagasta group of 37.5%. The Reko Diq mineral deposits are estimated to contain 5.9 billion tonnes with an average copper grade of 0.41% and an average gold grade of 0.22 g/tonne. The Antofagasta group’s entitled share of these resources amounts to 2.2 billion tonnes.
As well as natural gas, gold and copper, Balochistan is also rich in Chromite, Barytes, Sulpher, Marble and Limestone deposits. Yet despite all the natural wealth of the region, the Indigenous population of Balochistan remains impoverished and destitute. Rather than providing appropriate compensation in the way of development and infrastructure, the Baloch are systematically and violently oppressed and subjugated by an overzealous Pakistani Army. Political figures and activists who demand the Baloch be granted their fair share of the wealth of their homeland are abducted, tortured, killed and dumped. Entire villages are indiscriminately bombarded and entire Baloch families are slaughtered. Every day the frequency and quantity of human rights abuses in Balochistan is compounded exponentially.
On this Black Day, we not only commemorate the day Pakistan forcibly annexed Balochistan, but also appeal to the entire international community to accept responsibility for their role in the creation of Pakistan and to take action against the severe human rights abuses & violations of international laws committed by the Pakistani State in Balochistan.
Banuk Horaan Baloch
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