The crisis in Balochistan is not a conflict at the periphery. It is a slow-burning humanitarian catastrophe, where enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and systemic repression have become grim features of daily life. Pakistan’s largest but least developed province continues to bleed under state violence—and yet, the silence of the international community remains deafening.
A History of Betrayal
The roots of the Baloch struggle lie in betrayal and broken promises. At partition in 1947, Balochistan was composed of four princely States: Kharan, Makran, Las Bela, and Kalat. Kalat chose independence—a decision initially accepted by Mohammad Ali Jinnah but overturned under British pressure. In 1948, Pakistan annexed Kalat by force, citing fears it might gravitate towards India. That act of coercion sowed the seeds of resentment that remain to this day.
Subsequent policies only deepened alienation. The One-Unit scheme of 1955, which dissolved provincial autonomy and merged Balochistan into West Pakistan, ignited resistance. Nawab Nauroz Khan, the Khan of Kalat, declared independence in 1958, only to be tricked into surrender and jailed. Later uprisings in 1963 and 1973 were fuelled by demands for political recognition and autonomy. The dismissal of the elected Balochistan government in 1973, coming in the shadow of Bangladesh’s liberation, triggered a bloody four-year conflict.
Each rebellion has been met not with reconciliation but with military crackdowns, collective punishment, and scorched-earth tactics. What has endured is not peace but a cycle of repression and resistance.
Disappearances as a Tool of Control
The most chilling hallmark of today’s crisis is Pakistan’s weaponisation of enforced disappearances. According to Amnesty International, over 10,000 people have gone missing since 2011. The Balochistan Abductions & Statistics Committee (BASC) reported 674 disappearances in 2024 alone, of which nearly 70% remain unresolved.
Disappearances spike in direct retaliation to resistance. In October 2024, following a Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) assault on Chinese nationals in Nushki, 106 disappearances were reported—the highest monthly toll on record. Only 32% of those abducted resurfaced. Similar waves followed a BLA suicide bombing in November (90 cases) and a deadly bus attack in August (54 cases), with most abductees never returned.
Geographically, the Makran Division—home to Kech, Gwadar, and Panjgur—emerged as the epicentre, accounting for 42% of all disappearances last year. Ironically, these are the districts with the highest literacy rates and strongest traditions of political mobilisation, making them prime targets for suppression.
Students and Youth at the Crosshairs
Perhaps the most alarming trend is the targeting of students. Of the 455 identified victims in 2024, nearly half were students, many of them politically active. Their “crime” was organising protests, distributing pamphlets, or daring to question state policy. Even in Islamabad and Karachi, Baloch students have been tracked, detained, and silenced.
Labourers, small traders, and drivers also feature prominently among the missing, reflecting the indiscriminate nature of the campaign. For families, the trauma is compounded by the opaque fate of loved ones: some are eventually found in mass graves, others are killed in staged “encounters,” while many simply vanish into the abyss of Pakistan’s detention system.
Extrajudicial Killings and Collective Punishment
Disappearances are often the precursor to murder. At least 32 abductees were killed extrajudicially in 2024, with August alone witnessing 12 deaths, including seven after the BLA bus attack. Victims were dumped in mass graves, their deaths camouflaged as clashes with security forces. Dera Bugti—historically restive since the assassination of Nawab Akbar Bugti—remains a hotspot, where even relatives of political leaders face retribution.
The message from Islamabad is chillingly clear: collective punishment is state policy in Balochistan.
The International Dimension: China’s Shadow
Balochistan’s plight cannot be separated from the larger geopolitical game. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), hailed by Islamabad as a pathway to prosperity, has brought militarisation, displacement, and environmental destruction to the province. Baloch resistance groups increasingly target Chinese assets, viewing Beijing not as a partner but as a new coloniser. Pakistan’s security response—brutal crackdowns, mass arrests, and disappearances—serves both Islamabad’s control and Beijing’s strategic interests.
The Failure of International Conscience
Pakistan ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 2010, yet its record in Balochistan violates almost every clause: from the right to life, to freedom of expression, to due process. Crucially, Islamabad has refused to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED), a glaring omission for a state accused of running one of the world’s most systematic disappearance campaigns.
And yet, international responses remain muted. Human rights organisations issue occasional reports, but global powers look away. Western institutions, quick to criticise India over Kashmir, are conspicuously silent on Balochistan—a double standard that erodes the credibility of international human rights advocacy.
Why India Must Speak Out
India, more than any other nation, bears both moral responsibility and strategic incentive to elevate the Balochistan issue. By raising the matter at the United Nations, pushing for international observers, and demanding a plebiscite in line with Baloch aspirations, India can shatter Pakistan’s narrative of victimhood and expose its duplicity on human rights.
Balochistan today is not merely Pakistan’s “internal matter.” It is a humanitarian emergency crying for global attention. Every missing student, every silenced activist, every body dumped in a shallow grave is a reminder that silence is complicity.
The world must choose: continue to look away, or finally hold Pakistan to account.
(Aritra Banerjee is a Defence, Foreign Affairs & Aerospace Journalist, Co-Author of the book ‘The Indian Navy @75: Reminiscing the Voyage’ and was the Co-Founder of Mission Victory India (MVI), a new-age military reforms think-tank. He has worked in TV, Print and Digital media, and has been a columnist writing on strategic affairs for national and international publications. His reporting career has seen him covering major Security and Aviation events in Europe and travelling across Kashmir conflict zones. Twitter: @Aritrabanned)
