When I mention Baluchistan, there are two main reactions. The first is having no clue what I am talking about. It makes us think about the Silk Road, something very far away or at least not far from to the end of the world. Most people have no idea what country that is.
For those who have read a little more or work in politics or the humanitarian sector, the name rings a bell. Rings a bell that sounds like tribes, clans, a risk zone without law or order, full of fanatical kidnappers from whom you will not be able to free yourself in your entire life.
I wonder how many of us hardened in adventure, missions, terrain, war zones and other heroic deeds have passed through Baluchistan.
AlJazeera, which always manages to be involved in all stews, has been banned since 2010. Pakistan rejected a work proposal with the UN in 2012. The International Red Cross does not work in the area either.
The answer is, in Baluchistan, there is no one left. In 2012 a British Red Cross worker was beheaded by the Taliban in the region. Since then, it is an off limits territory for those who help or report impartially. AlJazeera, which always manages to be involved in all stews, has been banned since 2010. Pakistan rejected a work proposal with the UN in 2012. The International Red Cross does not work in the area either. If ICRC is not present then not an international neutral soul remains.
If to this we add Taliban, Lashkar e Taiba or Al Qaeda tags, then we are in a dead end. We reached the Afghan hell, the end of the world.
I have never been to Baluchistan. In my deep ignorance have always thought of it as a very remote region on the Afghan border, all mountains, without roads, without control, very difficult to access. After three hours sitting in Nations Square with Hatim, my vision of Baluchistan is more complete, but above all, very different from my previous ignorance.
The Baluchis did not behead a Red Cross worker. They also did not declare their adherence to the Taliban or Al Qaeda. And they are not at the end of the world either. What’s more, it is one of the busiest routes in the maritime world. Baluchistan is an immense territory indeed on the border with Afghanistan but in the border with Iran too.
Its capital is none other than Gwadar. This city is a wanting to be Dubai and one of the most important ports on the Asian continent. Most of Pakistan’s wealth passes through Gwadar’s harbour.
Baluchistan occupies half of the Pakistani territory while having only 5% of its population. It lies between the Goldsmith and Drevend lines, a late 19th century colonial aberration. It actually cuts through territories like we cut cakes disregarding tribes or cultures existing since millennia. An independent Baluchistan would have been a prosperous maritime state with phosphates, massive amounts of gas or gold among other riches. BAlochistan in those conditions should be an independent, wealthy, and maybe even happy country. But history is extremely dense in that region sandwiched between the English and French empires.
Like other states of British India, it chose independence when the British left. Like Kashmir or Sikkim, Baluchistan fared badly. In 1948, Pakistan de facto occupied the kingdom or at least part of it. A portion stayed in Iran which further complicated matters. Pakistan treats Baluchistan the same way that China treats Tibet or India treats Sikkim. It is not a matter for discussion, questioning or even dialogue. Not in public and not in private.
The Baluchis have always wanted their own state while belonging de facto to an iron-clad centralised state run by the likes of Musharraf. He scratched the autonomy of Baluchistan with his coup in 1999. On their struggle for survival the Baluchis have been prey of many opportunists who used them as puppets of their own goals.
Iran and Saudi Arabia as main axes in the economy and power of the region are active in proxy was of colonisation: Baluchistan has thousands of Salafi-style madrasas financed by Saudi Arabia that brought about a radical change in the region.
Pakistan has approved a millionaire budget to fence the border with Iran. In fact, this has long had a profound impact on the region’s economy, thousands of miles from Islamabad but with half its ethnicity in Iran. Its contempt towards the rising of Salafist education in this highly forgotten region is apparent.
