Beijing to Balochistan - China's CPEC Quandary

Abstract

With the partition and creation of two entities as India and Pakistan, like India, Pakistan too faced the issue of integration of the erstwhile princely states and ethnic groups into the new identity of Pakistan. With the simmering of tension in the underbelly of one of the most significant geopolitical region of Balochistan, it is the largest province of Pakistan by land area and one of the least populated. The coastline of Pakistan is around 1000 km, and Balochistan alone constitutes about 800 km of it. For closer to 70 decades, the Baloch people have protested, confronted and rebelled against Pakistan's mistreatment of its largest and naturally richest province. The unheard voices of the Baloch people across the world have become a topic of interest and study only now due to its newfound importance from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) proposed by China and revival of China-Pakistan nexus in yet another region of contention. The Balochs are fighting hard to keep the foreign powers like China out, and their expression of calling even Pakistan as a foreign power has found new relevance in the geopolitics of the region.