In the hullabaloo over Pakistan Prime Minister Gilani having “mentioned” at Sharm el-Sheikh that “Pakistan had some information on threats (from whom, from where?) in Balochistan and (hold it) other areas (emphasis added)”, there are some misled sections of our polity who believe — in the manner of BJP Rajya Sabha MP Arun Shourie urging in the wake of 26/11 that we take two eyes for every eye and an entire jaw for any damaged tooth — that since Pakistan sponsors cross-border terrorism in Kashmir (“and other areas”), we should be aiding dissidence in Balochistan.

Nothing could be more damaging or counter-productive than any Indian attempt to interfere in Balochistan’s internal affairs.

First, the province of Balochistan (set up only in 1970 by the Yahya regime) is not a Baloch-dominated province, not even demographically. In the four districts of Balochistan abutting the North-West Frontier Province, Waziristan and Afghanistan, Pushto-speaking Pathans constitute the overwhelming majority, ranging from nearly 99 per cent non-Balochi speaking inhabitants in Zhob to over 88 per cent in Loralai, Pishin and Quetta, while Lasbela, abutting Karachi, is overwhelmingly Sindhi-speaking. Besides, the Makrani dialect is so distinct from Balochi as to be regarded as virtually a separate language in Makran while the Balochi spoken in Chagai, on the border with Iranian Balochistan, is an Iranian version of Balochi that very few other Baloch would follow. Besides, Brahui rather than Balochi is the language of the Baloch heartland. Thus, the principal enemy of Balochi linguistic nationalism is that, by definition, Pushto and Sindhi speakers are excluded from its ambit, although between them they constitute much of the population of the province.

... contd.