Three thousand years ago, a group of Indo-Iranic tribes (called Balaschik at that time) settled in the northwestern Caspian region of Balashagan. Circumstances forced them to disperse and migrate towards south and eastern parts of Iranian plateau. In medieval times, they finally settled in present Balochistan where they became known as the Baloch. During their long and tortuous journey from Balashagan to Balochistan, the Baloch faced persecutions, deportations, and genocidal acts of various Persian, Arab and other regional powers. During 17th century, after dominating Balochistan culturally and politically, the Baloch carved out a nation state (the Khanate of Kalat). In 1839, the British occupied Balochistan and subsequently it was divided into various parts. In the wake of the British withdrawal from India in 1947, Balochistan regained its sovereignty but soon Pakistan occupied it in 1948. The historical account of the Baloch is the story of a pastoralist nomadic people from ancient times to mid-twentieth century. The author outlines the origin of the Baloch state and its variegated history of survival against powerful neighbors such as the Persians, the British and finally, Pakistan. This fascinating research work discovers the background of the long drawn-out conflict between the Baloch and Pakistan and Iranian states.

This book explores the ideological, political and military interventions of the state of Pakistan in Balochistan and traces the genesis of today’s secessionist movement. It delves into the historical question of Balochistan’s integration into Pakistan in 1947 and brings out the true political and militant character of the movement during the first three decades (1947–77) of Pakistan’s existence as a nation-state. It shows how the Baloch, as well as other minority groups, were denied the right to identify themselves as a sub-national/ethnic group in the new nation-state, compounded by a systematic exclusion from decision-making circles and structures of political and economic power. The volume also traces political resistance from within Balochistan and its subsequent suppression by military operations, leading to a widespread militant insurgency in the present day. Drawing on hitherto unexplored sources, this book will be indispensable to scholars and researchers of South Asian history, politics, international relations and area studies.

A fascinating account of British reporter Willem Marx's travels in Balochistan, a largely forgotten province of Pakistan, along with some spectacular images captured by French photojournalist Marc Wattrelot.

Balochistan, Pakistan's largest province, is a complex region fraught with conflict and hostility, ranging from an enduring insurgency and sectarian violence to terror strikes and appalling human rights violations. In his third book on Pakistan, Tilak Devasher analyses why Balochistan is such a festering sore for Pakistan. With his keen understanding of the region, he traces the roots of the deep-seated Baloch alienation to the princely state of Kalat's forced accession to Pakistan in 1948. This alienation has been further solidified by the state's rampant exploitation of the province, leading to massive socio-economic deprivation. Is the Baloch insurgency threatening the integrity of Pakistan? What is the likelihood of an independent Balochistan? Has the situation in the province become irretrievable for Pakistan? Is there a meeting ground between the mutually opposing narratives of the Pakistan state and the Baloch nationalists?Devasher examines these issues with a clear and objective mind backed by meticulous research that goes to the heart of the Baloch conundrum.

In the past decade Pakistan has become a country of immense importance to its region, the United States, and the world. With almost 200 million people, a 500,000-man army, nuclear weapons, and a large diaspora in Britain and North America, Pakistan is central to the hopes of jihadis and the fears of their enemies. Yet the greatest short-term threat to Pakistan is not Islamist insurgency as such, but the actions of the United States, and the greatest long-term threat is ecological change. Anatol Lieven's book is a magisterial investigation of this highly complex and often poorly understood country: its regions, ethnicities, competing religious traditions, varied social landscapes, deep political tensions, and historical patterns of violence; but also its surprising underlying stability, rooted in kinship, patronage, and the power of entrenched local elites. Engagingly written, combining history and profound analysis with reportage from Lieven's extensive travels as a journalist and academic, Pakistan: A Hard Country is both utterly compelling and deeply revealing.

This book critically examines the causes of the increase in insurgent violence in Balochistan and explores the relations between the national government of Pakistan and the province of Balochistan. Based on historical analysis, the book argues that the national government of Pakistan and the leaders of Balochistan both use a standard narrative when dealing with each other. According to the Baloch narrative, Islamabad exploits Balochistan’s natural resources without giving Balochistan its due share and has never accepted and granted Balochistan equal rights. The centre’s narrative emphasizes the tribal character of the Baloch society and suggests that the Baloch elite hinder Balochistan’s integration with the federation. This book demonstrates that both narratives are inherently flawed and presents a precipitous picture of the problem of insurgent violence. It also shows that the Baloch leadership is divided along tribal lines and lacks a unified voice and proposes that the Baloch elite use the narrative of enduring injustice only as a source of politicization of Baloch ethnicity when an actual or perceived injustice is taking place. An important addition to the literature on ethno-political conflicts, this unique analysis of the importance of narrative in the imagination of political movements will be of interest to scholars in the fields of South Asian studies, ethnic conflicts, separatist and political movements and Asian politics.

Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province rich with natural gas, gold and copper. Located on the borders of Iran and Afghanistan, land of the Balochs, where the first Baloch confederacy was founded in 1666, has had a bitter history of exploitation and suppression by a strictly centralized federal government heavily influenced by the country’s military. While the central government and the province confronted each other four times since the forceful annexation of the Baloch land into Pakistan in 1948, the ongoing movement entails more systematic and radical dimensions. Malik Siraj Akbar, editor of the The Baloch Hal, the first online English newspaper of Balochistan, takes a look at the last one decade how the dimensions of the Baloch movement changed. A Hubert Humphrey Fellow at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, Malik reveals the “enforced disappearance” of hundreds of Baloch political workers and their brutal murder by the Pakistani security services under a “kill and dump” policy during detention in a phenomenon similar to Argentina’s Dirty War. The book analyzes growing state-sponsored radicalization in secular Balochistan. Malik is the most widely quoted journalist on Balochistan. He insists that the killing of former governor Nawab Akbar Bugti, 79, by Pervez Musharraf’s regime proved as the 9/11 of Pakistan’s relations with the resourceful province. The Balochistan question merits attention of the international community not only for a stable Pakistan but also to provide the world alternative options for a secular buffer state between Iran and Afghanistan if Pakistan falls in the hands of Islamists.

Greater Balochistan region was remotely located far away from Kingdom of the Persia in the west and equally at a distance from Indian princely states in the east. In present time Balochistan, a part of Greater Balochistan is now disputed remote territory, illegally annexed by Pakistan, lies between Sindh province of Pakistan and the western international border of Iran. The whole region was populated most heavily by ethnic Baloch people and thus named this region Balochistan. Geopolitical developments in the area, divided Greater Balochistan into three separate countries. This book is mainly focusing on present Balochistan, the region under the occupation of Pakistan. Book describes the history, culture, and Baloch people’s suffering from the last seven decades pain, atrocity and oppressions that Pakistan has given them to suppress their voice. A voice which wants to save the Baloch culture, people and homeland from Pakistan’s army and its leadership.

Pakistan's growing proximity to a China-led new geopolitical order and a Turkey-led potential 'caliphate' pose new challenges to India and the world. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor traverses territory that legally belongs to India, and enables China to expand its footprint on land and sea routes to Europe, the Middle East, up to Africa and even South America. These developments highlight the strategic importance of Balochistan, which stands at the crossroads of Afghanistan, Iran and the Gulf. This work discusses Balochistan's failure to secure independence in August 1947, including the Anglo-US quest for military bases and post-1945 dominance. It traces the distinct identity of the Balochs that forms the basis of Baloch nationalism, along with successive insurgencies since 1948, their brutal suppression, and the emergence of powerful guerrilla groups. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor straddles the Silk Road Economic Belt and Maritime Silk Road and gives China command of a geostrategic sphere from Xinjiang to the Mediterranean Sea and beyond, making it a two-ocean power, while swamping Islamabad in untold debt. Finally, China's vision for a new international order via the Border and Road Initiative contrasts with India's gentler neighbourhood policy; it has triggered the evolution of the Indo-Pacific concept from a purely maritime idea to a geopolitical one. India is adamant that Beijing should not achieve a Sino-centric unipolar Asia, as a multipolar Asia is a critical pillar of a multipolar world. Balochistan is strategically located at the crossroads of Afghanistan, Iran and the Gulf, at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, through which the bulk of Asia's supply of oil passes. To control the Gulf region and secure their military bases in northwestern India, London tried to make Balochistan accede to Pakistan prior to Partition, and encouraged Mohammad Ali Jinnah to annex the territory. Ahmad Yar Khan, the Khan of Kalat, struggled in vain to regain the independence he was entitled to under the 1876 treaty with the British Crown.