Paper short abstract:

This paper will examine ethnic conflict in Baluchistan and evaluate various perspectives that have been used to explain the present crisis.

Paper long abstract:

The management and incorporation of ethnic identities in Pakistan is a general problem that historically has been far more problematic in Baluchistan. The region, reluctantly, was merged into the federation and has been the site of periodical resistance and overt conflict over the last sixty years. The issue of provincial autonomy, control of mineral resources and deprivation have been recurrent themes. With the death of Akbar Bugti the province became politically polarized and has descended into a new cycle of bombings, abductions and murders. The rebellion has resulted in a major security operation, which pits the security forces against the Baluch people and threatens to derail major development projects and increase instability in the country as a whole. The contours of the insurgency however are different from previous rebellions in the province and unlike the 1970s, which was inter-ethnic coalition against the centre under the leadership of NAP. This time it is a Baluch rebellion that is spread throughout the province and there is increasing hostility to Pukhtun and Punjabi residents. This paper will consider various perspectives that have been deployed to explain the present conflict: external intervention, resistance to social change, resource driven conflict theory, centre-periphery approach and integration and assimilation arguments and transnationalism.