Who are the Baloch militants straining Iran-Pakistan relations?

The arid Balochistan region in Asia, is distributed almost equally between the province of Baluchistan, in western Pakistan, and the province of Sistan-Baluchistan, in southeastern Iran. The troubled area is in the middle of missile attacks launched between Iran and Pakistan in recent days, due to the uprising of Baloch militant groups demanding more sovereignty and less Chinese intervention in their territory.

This Thursday, Pakistan carried out airstrikes against Baloch separatist groups inside Iranian territory, known as Balochistan Liberation Army And Balochistan Liberation Front , militant groups from the Baloch ethnic group fighting for greater regional autonomy and who reportedly had hideouts in Iran. The attacks, which left nine people dead, were a response to a previous missile offensive launched by Iran against militant bases in Pakistan’s Balochistan, which Tehran says housed anti-Iran fighters.

Iran insisted its target was not Pakistani citizens, but only Jaish al-Adl a Sunni Baloch group that has organized attacks against the country and request A “acknowledgement cultural, economic and political rights of the Baluchis through the Iranian government » in the Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchestan. But the Pakistani government called the Iranian bombing an “illegal act and an unprovoked violation of its airspace”, and warned it could lead to “serious consequences”.

Both countries said they were targeting groups they considered The Terrorists hidden in the area. He Balochistan Liberation Army , a separatist group active in the region since 2000, said in a statement that Thursday’s Pakistani attacks in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan province targeted and killed its population. “Pakistan will have to pay the price,” the group warned. “From now on, the Balochistan Liberation Army will not remain silent. we will avenge him and we will announce war on the State of Pakistan.

The Baluchistan rebellion, with a long history and undertaken by the Baloch nationalists against the Pakistani government , caused thousands of victims on both sides. The territory is the epicenter of regional tensions due to Iran and Pakistan they accuse each other of harboring “terrorists” Baloch separatists and their leniency towards militant groups in the shared region of Balochistan.

Baluchistan, in western Pakistan, and Sistan-Baluchistan, in southeastern Iran, are the poorest provinces of their respective countries, vast arid provinces struggling with drought and endemic unemployment. These provinces are the house of the Baloch people , which in total is estimated at 10 million inhabitants. Most of them are not active and live in Pakistan, including in the province of Sindh – in the south-east of the country – with several million in Iran and a much smaller minority in Afghanistan.

Iran and Pakistan share a border of nearly 1,000 kilometers across the provinces with activity of smuggling in particular fuel , intense due to the porous nature of the boundary. Reflecting the region’s economic poverty, many Baloch work as fuel transporters and smuggle it across the border into Pakistan, where they can sell it at a higher price. The Baloch are Sunni Muslims which makes it a religious and ethnic minority in Iran, the dominant religion in the Islamic Republic being Shiite Islam.

THE Baloch militant groups launched attacks on Pakistani forces and Chinese interests and projects in Pakistan, claiming that Islamabad had taken advantage of the wealthy mineral resources of Balochistan, adding this to the long history of complaints against Human rights abuses by Pakistan in Balochistan. China, for its part, has also played an important role in the local economy.

After this week’s attacks, China calls for calm between Iran and Pakistan and proposed to “play a constructive role” to ease tensions between the two countries, with which he maintains good relations. China and Pakistan have a long strategic relationship called “iron brothers”, in which the Asian giant has invested more than $60 billion in various infrastructure, railway and energy projects in its South Asian ally, in the framework of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) whose objective is to connect the western region of China to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, via Pakistan.

The project was called the China’s New Silk Road Because, just like the trade routes that have exported Chinese silk since the first century BC, the corridor represents a step forward in China’s ambitions to better connect with the Middle East and Africa. East. CPEC has upgraded major infrastructure projects from Pakistan’s Arabian Sea coast to the country’s northeastern border, which borders China.

The good political and military relations between China and Pakistan are largely based on the “antipathy” that the two countries feel towards their Indian neighbor, according to the BBC. And in this sense, for Beijing, what made the project more attractive was precisely the possibility of counter the influence of New Delhi in the region, as well as the weight of Pakistan’s other major ally, the United States.

But since 2014, when the creation of the megaproject was launched, the separatists have been attacking the infrastructure associated with the economic corridor. THE activists They are fiercely opposed to Chinese investments, arguing that they do not represent no benefit for the local population , who say their lives have not improved much, contrary to the opinion of supporters of the project, who say it has helped finance better educational and health facilities, in addition to creating jobs. Baloch on the Pakistani side of the border also complain of being disenfranchised and that revenues from the province’s rich natural resources are not adequately spent on local governance and social needs.

Meanwhile, Balochistan – a treasure trove of natural resources – continues to be exploited by China, while the region is still poor, with a per capita GDP of less than $1,000, according to media outlet Islam Khabar. As part of its Belt and Road Initiative With the creation of the corridor, China has stripped Pakistan’s largest province of its natural wealth and Profits are being made by Chinese companies, according to critics of the initiative,

A Chinese company that mines gold, silver and copper in Balochistan province has revealed that it has obtained profits of approximately $75 million in 2021, despite the interruption of its operations caused by Covid. The company is Metallurgical Construction Company of China (MCC) which has been operating near Saindak town in Chagai district of Balochistan for over 20 years and plans to continue its operations there until 2037, when you are waiting for resources exhausted .