The World Factbook 2021. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2021. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/

Pakistan is a country in the Middle East bordered by Afghanistan, China, India, Iran and the Arabian Sea. Balochistan is the largest but least populous of Pakistan’s four provinces. It has strategic access to the port city of Gwadar and is rich with natural resources. Pakistan’s other provinces profit from these resources, while Balochistan remains deeply impoverished. Some areas lack clean water and reliable electricity. Economic inequality between provinces has fostered resentment and polarization. Balochistan houses many terrorist organizations and is plagued by ethnic and religious violence.  

– Shia Muslims and Hazaras  

Pakistan’s Muslim majority is split between two sects with different interpretations of Islam: Sunnis (85-90%) and Shias (10-15%). Sunni terrorist groups have threatened and attacked the minority Shias since the 1980s. Pakistani Shias face online and offline hate speech and extremists have hosted popular anti-Shia in-person rallies, where they incite violence and slander Shia ‘infidels.’   

Ashrafghaffari, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Hazaras are an ethnic minority within the Shia sect. Since the early 2000s, Hazaras have faced hundreds of deadly attacks by Sunni militants in Pakistan. Hazaras’ religious affiliation, small ethnic community, and facial features that are said to resemble those of people from Mongolia make them uniquely vulnerable. The Taliban terrorist organization has also exported radical anti-Hazara sentiments to Pakistan through close ties with Pakistani terrorist groups. Members and leaders of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and Sipah-i-Sahaba fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s National Commission for Human Rights reports that Sunni terrorists have killed over 2,000 Pakistani Hazaras since 2004.  

Most Pakistani Hazaras live in Balochistan’s capital city, Quetta. They number about 500,000 and live in two heavily-guarded enclaves at either end of the city: Hazara Town and Alamdar Road. The enclaves are guarded with high walls, barbed wire, military personnel, and security checkpoints. Hazaras are relatively safe in these zones, but their restricted movement has led to economic hardship, curtailed education and employment, and limited access to healthcare. Outside of their enclave, Hazaras are at a constant risk of attack.  

The Pakistani state has failed to intervene or prosecute perpetrators. Some activists believe that the attacks on the Hazaras are used to divert attention away from the Baloch separatist movement. Others point to how the government has used Sunni militants as strategic assets to fight India in Kashmir and to repress the Baloch.  There are also discriminatory attitudes among members of government against Hazaras and Shias. 

 – The Baloch 

The Baloch are an ethnic group representing less than 4% of Pakistan’s population, but 52% of the population in Balochistan. They have sought to establish an independent state since the inception of independent Pakistan in 1947. Radical groups lead an armed insurgency against the government, yet most Baloch citizens are not active in the fighting. Many are peaceful advocates for greater autonomy within the Pakistani constitution. 

The Pakistani government and military have repressed Baloch citizens since the early 2000s. Security forces persecute not only insurgents, but also Baloch leaders, human rights groups, journalists, activists, and civilians through enforced disappearance, torture, and extra-judicial killings. The Pakistani Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances reported 5,000 enforced disappearances in Balochistan from 2014-2019. Local human rights groups say the number is up to 20,000 enforced disappearances, 2,500 of whom have been found dead. 

Gwadar Port (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)

Baloch militants have also committed grave crimes, including attacks on ethnic Punjabi civilians. However, the violence remains highly asymmetrical. 

Recently, attacks and forced relocations of the Baloch have escalated due to regional infrastructure projects. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the biggest project under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a foreign investment and infrastructure program. Pakistan has used billions of dollars in Chinese loans to build a road from the Gwadar Port in Balochistan to China’s Xinjiang region, to expand the Gwadar Port, and more. The CPEC is key to China’s goal of connecting and expanding trade between Asia, Africa, and Europe.  

The Baloch have been treated as an obstacle, rather than stakeholders at every stage of the CPEC. Terrorist groups who attack development sites are used to portray all Baloch civilians as dangerous radicals. A military presence around peaceful settlements, harassment, and disappearances have increased during the Gwadar Port expansion. Local populations are being displaced by an influx of Chinese citizens. 

The international community remains largely unaware of the situation. Balochistan is essentially an ‘information black hole;’ journalists are blocked from key areas and have been killed in the region on many occasions. 

Updated 2021

References

“A Tale of Three Ports: The Impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on Unrepresented Peoples in Pakistan and China.” https://unpo.org/downloads/2593.pdf  

“Balochistan: Pakistan’s other war.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4aTxF3xjWA  

“Balochistan: The State Versus the Nation.” https://carnegieendowment.org/2013/04/11/balochistan-state-versus-nation-pub-51488  

“Balochistan war: Pakistan accused over 1,000 dumped bodies.” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38454483  

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“If Pakistan is unwilling to protect its Shia citizens, they may look to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.” https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200916-if-pakistan-is-unwilling-to-protect-its-shia-citizens-they-may-look-to-irans-republican-guards/ 

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“Shi’a become latest target of Pakistan’s extremist Islamic factions; murders, hate speech and numerous blasphemy allegation sow seeds of long-term religious tension.” https://minorityrights.org/2020/10/20/shia-statement/  

“Surging attacks by Baloch separatists increase risks, costs of BRI projects in Pakistan: Report.” https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/surging-attacks-by-baloch-separatists-increase-risks-costs-of-bri-projects-in-pakistan-report/articleshow/77051071.cms  

“’Systematic genocide by Pakistan’: Baloch human rights groups urge G7 to investigate.” https://in.news.yahoo.com/systematic-genocide-pakistan-baloch-human-120923025.html  

“Understanding the agonies of ethnic Hazaras.” https://nchr.gov.pk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/HAZARA-REPORT.pdf  

““We are the Walking Dead”: Killings of Shia Hazara in Balochistan, Pakistan.” https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/06/29/we-are-walking-dead/killings-shia-hazara-balochistan-pakistan  

“What’s behind the Baloch insurgency in Pakistan?” https://www.trtworld.com/asia/what-s-behind-the-baloch-insurgency-in-pakistan-25982  

“What’s Happening in Pakistan’s ‘Most Complicated’ Region?” https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/08/balochistan-quetta/495689/