by VIVEK Y. KELKAR
Few in the West would have heard of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. Fewer could find it on a map. But a fierce new Asian conflict is gathering there, this time involving Pakistan, China, Afghanistan, Iran, and even India.
The Balochis are rebelling, violently, against the federal government in Islamabad, demanding independence or at least a measure of autonomy. They’re also furiously protesting China’s economic domination of their province.
China needs Balochistan. It’s crucial to Beijing’s Belt-and-Road Initiative. But insurgents have been killing Pakistan’s security forces in the region—and workers on projects managed by China—almost daily.
Balochistan shares long borders with both Afghanistan and Iran and has ethnic and political links to both. Upheaval in Balochistan could send much of Asia into turmoil. It could engulf Pakistan in chaos, test China’s quest for geopolitical primacy, and stoke fires across Iran and Afghanistan.
China controls the port city of Gwadar, which links Kashgar in China’s Xinjiang province to the Arabian Sea, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Persian Gulf. Part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Gwadar is a vital route for the Belt-and-Road Initiative.
Balochistan province covers 44 percent of Pakistan’s landmass. It is crucial to its economy, with some of the world’s largest deposits of copper and gold, and Pakistan’s richest deposits of coal, oil, and natural gas. Recently, Pakistan’s state-owned petroleum company announced the discovery of massive gas deposits—one trillion cubic feet—in the province.
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