McGill Journal of Political Studies 2014 April, 2014 | Page 106

Abstract
The Pakistani Province of Balochistan is the largest province in terms of territory, but has
a small, diverse population - multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and multi-cultural - and is
the most economically backward in the country. In the past decade, the province has been
plagued by brutal and intersecting political violence. The categories of political violence
in Balochistan consist of nationalist agitation such as that by the Balochistan Liberation
Army (BLA), ethnic and sectarian violence (conducted predominantly by the Lashkar-eJhangvi), as well as ideological and terrorist violence (perpetrated by Tehreek-i-Taliban
Pakistan). Most scholarly literature on Balochistan is restricted to examinations of the
historic nationalist struggle. This paper seeks to elucidate the varying types of political violence rife within the province, the driving factors behind its existence, the political actors
involved, and the implications and repercussions of sustained violence for the Pakistani
state. The fundamental roots of political violence within the region stem from the flawed
implementation of federalism, specifically, the lack of devolution of autonomy to the provinces, but also a marked paucity of central authority to curb violence.

Political Violence in Balochistan
By Mina Mir

2

013 was a deadly year for the Pakistani
province of Balochistan. In the early
morning hours of the 15th of June,
2013, members of the Baloch Liberation
Army (BLA), a militant separatist
organisation, conducted an attack in the
small hill town of Ziarat, reducing to
ashes a century-old mansion where the
founder of Pakistan spent his last few days1.
The showering of hand grenades and the
strategically placed bombs on the estate
resulted in the casualty of one policeman.
Later that day, a suicide bomber blew up a
women’s university bus in Quetta, claiming
22 lives, most of whom were female students.
As the injured were rushed to the city’s Bolan
Medical Complex (BMC) Hospital, armed
militants awaited them, laying siege to the
hospital, and claiming another 8 casualties
in the ensuing clash between the security
forces and the militants2. The Sunni militant
The Economist, “Cruel Beyond Belief: No Honeymoon for Nawaz Sharif from Pakistan’s Terrorists,”
2013, accessed 23 December 2013, http://www.
economist.com/news/asia/21579886-no-honeymoon-nawaz-sharif-pakistans-terrorists-cruel-beyond-belief
2
Gul Yousafzai, “Hospital siege, blasts new Pakistan
government’s first security test,” Reuters, 15 June 2013,
accessed 25 December 2013, http://www.reuters.
1

Keywords: Political Violence, Terrorism, Seccessionist Movements, Federalism

group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) claimed
responsibility for the attack that many
believe was meant to target Shiite Hazara
women students. These attacks occurred just
days after Pakistan’s democratically elected
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was sworn in
on the 5th of June, 2013. The spell of political
violence continued unabated, and on August
8th in the province’s capital city of Quetta,
a Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) suicide bomber
killed 30 people, 26 of them members of
the Balochistan Police Force (including
5 very high-level police officers), who
were attending the funeral of a colleague3.
The Taliban had earlier gunned down the
colleague in question, in a strategic move
allowing them to bring together and target
the city’s security apparatus.
The incidents cited above vividly illustrate
the brutal and intersecting nature of political
violence that plagues Balochistan. The
categories of political violence in Balochistan
consist of nationalist agitation (illustrated
com/article/2013/06/15/us-pakistan-rockets-idUSBRE95E03O20130615
3
DAWN.com, “Suicide attack on Quetta funeral kills
at least 30,” 8 August 2013, accessed 25 December
2013, http://www.dawn.com/news/1034975/suicideattack-on-quetta-funeral-kills-at-least-30
Political Violence in Balochistan | Mir | 107