Balochistan's revolt: Pakistan faces the fire it lit abroad!
With public sentiment shifting and groups like the Balochistan Liberation Army intensifying attacks, Islamabad struggles to contain the unrest.
Pakistan is getting a bitter taste of its own medicine. For decades, Pakistan has been following the doctrine - 'Bleed India with a thousand cuts.' As part of the doctrine, Pakistan has been waging a covert war against India by using militants at multiple locations.
Pakistan has devised a malevolent strategy aimed at instigating religio-political turmoil in India's border states of Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab. While Pakistan was busy creating problems for India, it failed to notice the fire of separatism blazing in its own backyard. The fire of separatism, which has caught the imagination of the people of Balochistan-the largest province by land area in Pakistan - is creating serious challenges for India's western neighbour.
Balochistan became a part of Pakistan in 1948, despite opposition from some influential tribal leaders who sought an independent state. It is a land rich in gas, coal, copper, and gold. However, Pakistan never gave Balochistan its due. The region is facing the brunt of regional disparity. Balochistan remains stuck in time. The wheels of development have failed to rotate in the region.
Years of neglect in the mineral-rich region have made the people increasingly restive. The feeling that Pakistan has exploited the resource-rich region without taking steps for its development has made a section of its population take up arms to register their protest against the policy adopted for decades by Islamabad.
A country that has been fuelling militancy in India is now finding it very difficult to control an insurgency that has taken deep roots in Balochistan. Militant groups like the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), designated as a terrorist group by Pakistan and other nations, have intensified their attacks, bombings, assassinations, and ambushes against security forces.
Islamabad's strategy to crush the insurgency with an iron hand has apparently back-fired. The bid to suppress dissent has instead aroused public sentiment and growing support for an independent Balochistan. The Pakistani military establishment has failed to devise a strategy to handle the people's movement. The problem of insurgency, which was always present in Balochistan, shifted gears around the year 2000 when militants started targeting the Pakistan Army's Quetta Cantonment from the nearby hills.
However, the insurgency in the region started gaining public support in 2006 after the Pakistan Army killed the revered Baloch tribal chief Nawab Akbar Bugti. The Pakistan security forces, in the name of quelling the insurgency, have allegedly killed, tortured, and enforced the disappearance of hundreds of Baloch resistance fighters.
The actions of the Pakistan military have only fuelled the resentment and resolve of the Baloch. With the movement gaining mass support, there is a possibility of Pakistan facing another change in its geographical boundaries.