Early on Monday in the Musakhail district of Balochistan, gunmen unloaded passengers from trucks and buses and shot them after verifying their identities, according to an official.
In the Musakhail district of Balochistan, armed men stopped buses and trucks early on Monday, August 26, removed the passengers, and then shot and killed 23 people after verifying their identities.
Assistant Commissioner Najeeb Kakar of Musakhail said, “Vehicles traveling to and from Punjab were inspected, and individuals from Punjab were identified and shot,” Dawn reported. According to him, the militants also set ten vehicles on fire.
There have been previous reports of similar attacks in Balochistan. After examining their identification, militants in April of this year shot and killed nine Punjabi tourists who were traveling close to Noshki city in Balochistan. Six Punjabi laborers were shot and killed in October of last year in the Kech district of Balochistan in what the authorities called “targeted killings.” Twenty construction workers, all from Punjab and Sindh, were slain by gunmen in an attack on a labor camp close to Turbat in 2015.
Baloch insurgencies, and repression by Pakistani state
Balochistan has seen bloody insurgencies, harsh state repression, and a persistent nationalist movement since Pakistan’s founding. The first insurgency started in 1948 following the largest and strongest of the four chiefdoms that would eventually form the province of Balochistan, Kalat, being forced to join Pakistan.
The Kalat “Khan” had long supported the creation of an independent Baloch state. However, his aspirations were dashed by British concerns over Soviet expansion in the area and Pakistan’s desire to annex as much land as possible after the “losses” of the Partition. On March 27, 1948, The Khan signed the instrument of accession, one day after the Pakistan Army had forced its way into Baloch territory.
Protests against the accession quickly started. The first of five Baloch “wars of independence”—fought in 1948, 1958–59, 1962–63, 1973–1977, and currently continuing since 2003—was started by Prince Abdul Karim, the brother of the Khan, by July. Aside from the liberation movement in Bangladesh, these violent insurgencies have arguably posed the greatest threat to Pakistani sovereignty.
The Pakistani state has therefore brutally suppressed them, and its forces are accused of a wide range of crimes, such as kidnappings, torture, arbitrary detentions, and extrajudicial killings. Conservative estimates indicate that since 1948, Pakistani forces have killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians and Baloch nationalists, though exact figures are unknown. Over 5,228 Baloch people are thought to have vanished (and are presumed dead) between 2001 and 2017, according to the non-governmental organization Voice for Baloch Missing Persons.
Baloch nationalist factions have also utilized violence. They have been charged with a number of human rights offenses, including attempting to ethnically cleanse the province of non-Baloch residents.
In 2023, “Baloch insurgent groups, mainly the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), perpetrated 78 attacks in Balochistan killing 86 people and wounding 137 others,” according to the “Pakistan Security Report 2023” published by the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, an NGO with its headquarters in Islamabad. The attacks were primarily directed towards security forces and were distributed across 19 districts, primarily located in the province’s central, southern, and southwestern regions.
According to Reuters, the BLA has taken credit for Monday’s attack and issued a warning about more to come.
Behind targeting of Punjabis
Why is Baloch nationalism held to be true? And what has been the 75-year insurgency’s fuel? There are two prominent factors.
Ethnic differences come first. This served as the cornerstone of Baloch nationalism during the War of Independence and continues to be an important motivator now. The Baloch people have a shared language, culture, and history—all essential components of the emergence of a national identity.
It doesn’t help that Punjabis have virtually uncontested control over the nation’s bureaucracy and institutions, and that Punjab has dominated Pakistani politics since the province’s founding. Punjabis historically have dominated even Pakistan’s cricket team. Ethnic differences have historically fostered division and disunity for a nation founded primarily on religion; this led to the breakup of East Pakistan in 1971 and has continued to fuel Baloch nationalism to this day.
The Baloch people’s sense of economic injustice and alienation comes in second. The largest and least populated province in Pakistan is called Balochistan. It has an abundance of natural resources, including oil, and is well-positioned near the country’s western border with Afghanistan and Iran. However, in comparison to the rest of the nation, its citizens continue to live in relative poverty.
The Baloch people feel even more marginalized politically as a result of this. The Pakistani state, which is dominated by Punjabis, is accused by Baloch nationalists of stealing from Balochistan’s natural riches. Consider the Gwadar port project, which is supported by China and has attracted billions of dollars in investment but hasn’t done much for the regional economy. Chinese experts, along with a large number of Punjabi and Sindhi engineers and technical specialists, were hired for the project in place of educated but jobless Baloch youth.
In this context, Punjabis in Balochistan are being targeted. People from Punjab are prime targets for insurgents because of the dominance of Punjabis in the Pakistani state and the Baloch people’s ongoing sense of injustice and alienation as a result of the actions of this Punjab-dominated state.
