Book Review
Salman Rafi Sheikh: The genesis of Baloch nationalism: Politics and ethnicity in Pakistan, 1947-1977 (Routledge, Abingdon, 2018).

Jamison Heinkel

Salman Rafi Sheikh’s The genesis of Baloch nationalism: Politics and ethnicity in Pakistan, 1947-1977 delves into the complexities of the Pakistani Baloch conflict, challenging the conventional narrative that attributes it solely to obstinate tribal leaders and external conspiracies. Utilising previously unused archival material, the author critiques the Pakistani state’s policies, which strategically marginalised non-Punjabi ethnic groups, particularly the Baloch, by fostering an Islamic national identity that excluded these groups from political and economic power. The book argues that military interventions and political exclusion have exacerbated the Baloch struggle for independence, emphasising the need for a re-evaluation of Pakistan’s internal conflicts and their broader implications for regional stability.
Islamabad’s official narrative of the Pakistan-Baloch conflict is that it stems from stubborn and troublesome Baloch sardars (tribal leaders) and a foreign-funded conspiracy. Salman Rafi Sheikh wishes to correct misconceptions about Pakistan’s longest-running internal violent conflict located in Balochistan, the state’s largest and most impoverished province. A Pakistani Punjabi, he acknowledges the ethnic baggage and the state’s overarching narrative, which allows Pakistan to escape responsibility for the ongoing conflict in Balochistan. Sheikh examines the Pakistan-Baloch conflict through this lens with an eye towards showing how the situation is not a ‘conspiracy’ and is much more complex (p. x).
Balochistan’s inaccessibility, the lack of information, and often contradictory accounts make conducting scholarship on the Pakistani Baloch conflict controversial. The province’s insecurity is a result of the ongoing low-level Baloch insurgency, active terrorist groups, and sectarian conflicts. The insecurity ensures that scholars suffer from limited access. Therefore, writers on the Pakistani Baloch conflict usually reflect the divergent Pakistani narrative or the Baloch nationalist narrative, displaying heavy bias and missing a much-needed scholarly treatment. Moreover, much of the literature on Baloch nationalism adds little new to the collective knowledge of the conflict. This book is welcome as it helps fill a gap in the literature on Baloch nationalism by drawing on previously unused archival research in Pakistan including documentation from the National Archives, National Assembly, Senate, Punjab Assembly, Balochistan archives in Quetta, secret government documents regarding Pakistan’s accession of different states in Balochistan (Makran, Las Bela and Kharan), secret reports on the issue of making Balochistan a full province, and secret bulletins from Baloch armed groups during the 1973-77 Baloch insurgency.
The genesis of Baloch nationalism argues that Pakistan chose to stress Islamic identity as the common reference point for creating a composite national identity following the country’s creation in 1947. This order would put the ruling Pakistani elite, ethnic Punjabis and Muhajirs (Muslim immigrants from India), in an unchallengeable political position by excluding other groups from the state’s political and economic structures. Any movement by these excluded groups for their rights was labelled as a subversive, reactionary, and foreign-funded conspiracy (p. 18). The author posits that the reason for the enduring conflict with the Baloch is the state of Pakistan’s failure to accommodate political diversity, a failure compounded by ideological, political, and military interventions. These interventions laid the foundation for oppressed political movements to evolve and seek greater autonomy, eventually leading to independence movements in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) and now in Balochistan. The author examines how the Baloch came into conflict with post-colonial Pakistan until the end of the fourth Baloch insurgency in 1977. This period was selected because it includes the embryonic stage of Baloch nationalism; the first four Baloch rebellions (1948, 1958-59, 1963-69, and 1973-77), and the state’s denial of Balochistan’s provincial status until 1970 due to the locals’ alleged ‘backwardness’ and the ‘lack of capacity’ to function as a province (p. 8). Each type of intervention by the state – ideological, political, and military – is treated in a separate chapter. The final chapter reflects on the changing dimensions of the Baloch national movement since 1977.
Islamic ideology was politically deployed by multiple Pakistani regimes, using it to glorify themselves as ‘patriots’ and denigrate the opposition forces as anti-Pakistan and anti-Islam. This was used to justify various political formations and exclude ethnic nationalists from the structures of economic and political power (p. 10). Political exclusion was perpetuated through various policies including the Advisory Council, Balochistan Reforms Committee, Balochistan States Union, and the One Unit Scheme. These policies were meant to consolidate the ruling elite’s hold on the state and allow them to manipulate, exploit, and exclude the Baloch and other ethnic groups from mainstream political and decision-making institutions. Various correspondence between state officials and debates of the Constituent and National Assemblies of Pakistan show Balochistan’s meagre financial resources were highlighted to justify state domination and control over the region’s natural resources.
Ideological and political interventions do not explain the causation of the multiple Baloch armed resistance movements. Instead, Sheikh argues that state military action led to Baloch armed resistance breaking out in 1948, 1958, 1963 and 1973. Military interventions were also used by the state against East Pakistan in 1971, and in Sindh during the General Ziaul Haq era, rationalised in the name of restoring order (p. 18). Overall the more Pakistan resisted democratic demands, the more the Baloch resisted, leading to more state intervention, resulting in greater consolidation of the Baloch national struggle and now greater calls for outright Baloch independence from Pakistan. This century, the state’s interventions have only increased with banning political and nationalist organisations, establishing military structures in Balochistan, conducting recurring military operations, and forced disappearances of Baloch activists and sympathisers (pp. 181-182). The state’s emphasis continues to be placed on a military solution, leaving a small margin for settlement between the state and Baloch nationalists with no resolution in sight.
Sheikh’s use of archival materials strengthens the argument that there is more to the Pakistani Baloch conflict than the state’s official narrative. The genesis of Baloch nationalism provides a valuable contribution to the study of Baloch nationalism and Pakistan’s various responses to political challengers. The book could lead to future research on Pakistan’s response to other internal political challengers. The ways other political and ethnic groups have developed compared to the Baloch national movement and with respect to Pakistan’s response including ideological, political and military interventions would benefit from a similar treatment.

The writer is a Department Member at the Heidelberg University.