Balochistan (Country)

Balochistan (country)
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Capital	Kalat
Language	Balochi (official)

Balochistan is a country that is under occupation by Pakistan and Iran. Historically, Balochistan extended from the city of Bandar Abbas to Dera Ghazi Khan.

History[edit]

Balochistan was invaded by the British in 1839 as part of their policy of colonial expansionism. Mir Mehrab Khan, the Baloch ruler at the time, along with hundreds of Baloch fighters, died while trying to defending Balochistan. Later on the British drew the Goldsmith line in 1871, which gave Northern and Western Balochistan off to the Persian sphere of influence (Western Balochistan still remained independent). Eastern Balochistan was to remain a puppet state of the British Empire.^[1]

Western Balochistan[edit]

Western Balochistan successfully resisted attempts by the Persians to merge it into their country. But in 1928, Reza Shah Pahlavi invaded Balochistan and merged it into Iran.^[2]

Eastern Balochistan[edit]

The Khanate of Kalat was the ruling force over Eastern Balochistan. The Kalat state gained its independence on August 11, 1947, 3 days before India and Pakistan. However the independence was short lived for only 7 months. On March 27, 1948, Muhammad Ali Jinnah ordered the Pakistani Military to invade and annex the Kalat state (Eastern Balochistan) to Pakistan.^[3]

The Baloch people, however did not accept the Pakistani occupation and resisted. The first rebellion was led by Prince Abdul Karim Baloch, the younger brother of the Khan of Kalat. It was put down. The Baloch tried to revolt on 4 different occasions(1948, 1952, 1963, 1973–1977) but it was suppressed by the Pakistani military. In the 1973-1977 phase, the Pakistanis were losing ground so the Shah of Iran sent helicopter gunships and Iranian pilots to help the Pakistani Military against the Baloch freedom fighters. Thousands of Baloch men, women and children were killed in bombardments of their villages.^[4]

Present[edit]

Since the mid-2000's, the Frontier Corps and the Pakistani ISI have been practicing a policy known as "pick up and dump" in which "Baloch nationalists, militants, or even innocent bystanders are picked up, disappeared, tortured, mutilated, and then killed. In 2008 alone, an estimated 1,102 people were disappeared from Balochistan. ^[5] Additionally, the Pakistani Army sets Baloch civilians houses on fire and bombs them with chemical weapons.^[6]

References[edit]