Pakistan has always been a country full of internal and external troubles.
With the recent attack on Chinese staff at the Confucius Institute at the University of Karachi, a group called the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has attracted attention.
The woman who carried out the suicide attack was a double-degree master with two children, a father who was a senior government servant, a husband who was a dentist, and an uncle who was a professor and writer
In fact, although the name of the organization carries the words "People's Liberation Army", its essence is an ultra-nationalist armed force, which belongs to a separatist force in Pakistan and has been identified as a terrorist organization by many countries and regions.
Armed leader of the BLA
Similarly, there is a group called the Balochistan Liberation Front (Student Party), which has issued violent warnings about the construction of the Gwadar port.
Their main targets include not only the Pakistani government and military police, but also a large number of innocent ordinary people.
Even, in order to increase their international "exposure" and bring more pressure to the Pakistani government, they have also shifted from simply attacking Pakistanis to attacking foreigners or institutions in Pakistan.
The Chinese government has always maintained very friendly relations with Pakistan, so Chinese and Chinese institutions in Pakistan have often been targeted by Balochistan extremist groups that seek to drive away Chinese projects through terrorist attacks and stir up Sino-Pakistani relations in order to strike at Pakistan's central government.
The port of Gwadar, an important hub of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, is located southwest of Balochistan
Today's Balochistan Liberation Army was founded in 2000, mainly from the Balochistan nationalist forces that were very active long ago during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
As early as the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, in order to combat pakistan's logistical supply lines in support of Afghan guerrillas from within, the Soviets had funded a number of anti-government organizations specializing in separatist and destructive activities in Pakistan, including several Balochistan nationalist forces.
Later, with the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan and the end of the Cold War, many analysts believe that the group's current behind-the-scenes financiers is suspected of being India and even has some ties to the United States.
Why, then, have some Baloch people in Pakistan expressed their disobedience over the years and had to pursue independence at all costs?
This has to say that the intricate ethnic relations in Pakistan are as complex as the British who liked to "draw lines" everywhere a long time ago.
The dividing line between Pakistan and India, the Mountbatten Partition Line, and the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the "Duran Line", were both drawn by the British
Pakistan is the 36th largest in the world, but it has the sixth largest population, at 201 million. These Pakistani citizens come from 72 ethnic groups in the country and speak more than 60 languages.
Costumes of the various ethnic groups in Pakistan
This characteristic national condition is vividly reflected in the naming of Pakistan.
Pakistan, there is an interpretation that means holy land;
But the deeper meaning is that as early as the time of British India, Muslims in the north and South Asia imagined the future "great cause of nation-building" - the "P" of Punjab, the "a" of Afghanistan (according to the "Duran Line", the map of northwest Pakistan was the territory taken from Afghanistan during the Anglo-Indian period), the "K" of Kashmir, the "S" of Sindh, the "tan" of Baluchistan ~ These five parts of the Muslim community formed "Pakistan".
These components are also the gathering places of the six major ethnic groups in Pakistan.
However, similar to the situation in its neighbor Afghanistan, Pakistan, despite its large number of ethnic groups, has no ethnic group that can account for an absolutely dominant proportion, coupled with a backward economic and educational base, and it is difficult for some ethnic agglomerations to form a particularly strong sense of national identity.
The largest proportion of pakistani population is Punjabi, accounting for about 44.7% of the total population.
The Punjabi people are not divided according to anthropological concepts of ethnicity, but more like an identity based on language and tribal culture.
Pakistani Punjabi dance is very similar to the style of northern India, but Muslim Punjabi women do not wear nose rings (that is mostly a Hindu female accessory)
After the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, according to the "Mountbatten Partition Line" drawn by the British, the original Punjabi area was divided into independent India and Pakistan.
As a result, the majority of The Punjabs who believe in Islam are westward and return to Pakistan, while on the other side are The Punjabs of India, who believe in Sikhism and Hinduism.
It then became the region with the sharpest confrontation between India and Pakistan after Kashmir, and continues to this day.
The movie "Governor's House" depicts this "line-drawing" history, shaping a good servant of the Indian people who wholeheartedly seeks the welfare of South Asia - Mountbatten
Pakistan's Punjabis are relatively tall, speak Punjabi and live mostly in Punjab Province.
It is also the most developed region in Pakistan, with agricultural output accounting for 70% of the country's total, industry accounting for 60%, and it is the only province in Pakistan that has "county roads".
In addition, the senior leadership of the Pakistani government and army is also predominantly Punjabi.
Pakistan Fashion Week, the third and fourth are the traditional costumes of the Punjabi people, and the Punjabi women of Pakistan, although They are Muslims, do not mask and wear sari
The second largest ethnic group is the Pashtuns, accounting for 15.4%.
The Pashtuns are also the largest ethnic group in their neighboring Afghanistan.
Pashtun costumes
However, there are only 15 million Pashtuns in Afghanistan, while there are more than 30 million people in Pakistan, accounting for 15.42% of The total population of Pakistan.
Afghan Pashtun refugees poured into Pakistan during the War in Afghanistan
The main reason for this strange phenomenon is related to the line drawn here by the British a long time ago - the Duran line.
In the late 19th century, the bear and the British, who were heading south to seek an outlet to the Indian Ocean, met right here, and the two sides pulled each other apart.
In order to stop the bears from moving south, the British aimed at Afghanistan and launched three consecutive Anglo-Afghan wars.
Britain is the first modern country to experience the sourness of the "graveyard of empire". In the process of invading Afghanistan, not only did it not take advantage of anything, but there was also the darkest moment when thousands of people were beaten into "groups".
Eventually, before having to withdraw from Afghanistan, the British entered into a "Durran Line Agreement" that demarcated the border between Afghanistan and British India, and in addition to forcibly dividing the Pashtuns, allocated a small part of Balochstan (a loose tribal confederation similar to a quasi-state form) to Afghanistan, while the other large part was allocated to British India, which had the final say.
The settlement of these people is now the province of Balochistan, which is also home to the famous Gwadar Port.
In contemporary Pakistan, Balochistan is arguably the most abundant province in natural and mineral resources, with the Value of the Reikdiq Copper and Gold Mines in the Chagai region alone worth nearly $500 billion. In addition, the province has Pakistan's only deep-water seaport, Gwadar Port.
However, it is Pakistan's weakest economically growing province.
The result of this is, in large part, because of the social environment that has not been peaceful here.
As early as the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, according to the provisions of the act of that year, the various states in the British Indian region could decide which country to join.
however... However, Karat, the largest tuban in the Balochistan region, chose independence directly.
Although this independent regime was eventually completely suppressed by the Pakistani government by force. But in the years that followed, Balochistan's separatist forces never stopped, from armed insurrection to terrorist attacks that left Pakistan and its neighbors scratching the back.
Historically, in 1948, 1958, 1977 and 2005, the Baloch launched four large-scale armed rebellions, and the Pakistani government repeatedly sent troops to encircle and suppress them. Most recently, the counterinsurgency campaign in 2005 once produced 90,000 Balochistan refugees.
Commander and retinue of the BLA (Balochistan Liberation Army).
Moreover, as mentioned earlier, in addition to the Pakistani government and military and police personnel, balochistan rebels often launch attacks against foreigners in Pakistan.
For example, the picture below is the entrance of the Chinese Consulate in Karachi after the attack on November 23, 2018.
At that time, three attackers suddenly opened fire at a checkpoint near my consulate, killing two policemen. They then threw grenades everywhere and tried unsuccessfully to blow open the consulate's armored gates with the C-4 they were carrying.
Soon Pakistani police, special forces, bomb disposal experts and firefighters rushed to the scene, and after more than two hours of fierce fighting between the two sides, all the attackers were killed and there were no casualties on the Chinese side.
Vehicles burned down in front of the Chinese consulate
Later in the day, the Balochistan Liberation Army declared responsibility for the incident.
To say that there are so many ethnic groups in Pakistan, why the sixth, accounting for only 3.6% of the Baloch, the strongest centrifugal force, a large part of the reason is related to the previously mentioned British withdrawal from Afghanistan, before the British withdrew from Afghanistan, drawn the "line".
Historically, many ethnic groups in Central and South Asia have advocated the concept of "having a family before there is a country", and the first to be loyal to them is their own tribes, and the sense of national identity is relatively weak.
Then, although Baloch also believes in Islam, the gap between their ancestral blood and other ethnic groups in Pakistan is still very obvious.
Unlike the previous contradictions between India and Pakistan, which were mainly related to religion, the contradictions between Balochistan and Pakistan stemmed from national identity.
The Baloch people originated in the Iranian plateau, with a distinctly Persian ancestry, a lighter complexion, and deeper facial features. The Baloch language they speak belongs to the Persian language family, which is quite different from the Urdu and Punjabi languages spoken in Pakistan.
Baloch
Currently, about 70% of Baloch live in Pakistan and 25% in Iran, in addition to Turkmenistan in Central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and North Africa, where a small number of Baloch settle.
For a long time, balochs have been very similar to the Kurds of the Middle East, all of which are distributed in many countries, have a low sense of identity with the host country, and have a strong desire to establish a nation-state of their own.
Because of this, Pakistan and Iran, despite their disputes over the demarcation of their borders, have been consistent in their attitudes and actions in combating Baloch nationalist activities.
For so many years, Pakistan has been trying to boost the local people's sense of national identity by developing the local economy.
However, helplessly, various seemingly beautiful policies are often thunderous and rainy, and aid funds are intercepted by corrupt departments at all levels, which is difficult to truly benefit the people, and leads to long-term unfair distribution of regional resources.
In addition, the local leaders and chiefs were unwilling to lose their inherent privileges and obstructed the government's development plans in many ways; and those who had lived in difficulties for generations and had a low level of education were also very vulnerable to being provoked by others, which made the contradictions between the central and local governments intensify.
What's more, Balochistan's separatist armed forces have long established their own "industries" - "drug production and trafficking, arms smuggling, human trafficking."
Obviously, the above-mentioned illegal and profiteering activities have made it absolutely impossible for the various forces benefiting from it to accept balochistan into a region with laws to follow and orderly reliability.
It is precisely for this reason that they obstruct the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in every way - once the construction of Balochistan province develops, it will inevitably lead to the stable and orderly development of the local society.... This has made those separatist organizations and local forces feel very afraid.
On July 14, 2021, a bus carrying Chinese engineers was attacked in Balochistan, killing nine Chinese engineers and two Pakistani workers on the spot
Another very difficult problem is that Balochistan is located in the southeast of the Iranian plateau, the terrain is particularly complex, similar to the situation in Afghanistan, full of ravines, caves, very suitable for these rebels to hide, the outside military and police into the mountains to suppress bandits, almost become a living target, easy to be ambushed, heavy losses.
Of course, as mentioned at the beginning, behind the various Pakistani separatist organizations represented by the Balochistan Liberation Army, there is even less behind-the-scenes manipulation by some major powers.
However, despite various internal and external threats, China-Pakistan cooperation cannot be shaken. After all, whoever comes to power, the Pakistani government is well aware that only by building Balochistan can balochistan be able to free itself from generations of poverty and intense instability.
Facts will eventually prove that the blood of Chinese will not flow in vain.