The growing civil war in Baluchistan

The New York Times today has an article that highlights the growing civil war in Baluchistan. In the southwest corner of Pakistan, up against the border with Iran and Afghanistan, this province has seen a steady stream of violence.

This is the other front of Pakistan's widening civil unrest, not the tribal areas along the Afghan border where the United States would like the government to press a campaign against Islamic militants, but the restive province of Baluchistan, home to an intensifying insurgency.

It is here, say local leaders and opposition politicians, that Pakistan, an important ally in the United States' campaign against terrorism, has diverted troops from the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban to settle old scores as it seeks to develop the region's valuable oil and gas reserves.

One visit makes it clear that, despite official denials, the government is waging a full-scale military campaign here. Rebel leaders say they have several thousand men under arms, fighting what they estimate are 23,000 Pakistani troops.

The terrain is harsh, making it difficult to dig out rebels. The origins of the conflict go back decades, and lie in the independent nature of the region's inhabitants.

Armed resistance by Baluch nationalists has been a repeating occurrence since the birth of Pakistan in 1947, when tribal leaders, Mr. Bugti among them, only grudgingly joined Pakistan after having ruled independent territories under the British.

The bitterness today is such that the tribal leaders compare the situation to the 1970's, when Bangladesh broke from Pakistan. "If grievances have come to this level— that we do not mind if Pakistan disintegrates— then things are bad," Mr. Marri, the rebel leader, said.

The terrain here is marked by harsh, rocky desert, rising into craggy mountains and cut through with narrow gorges that supply many hiding places for shepherds, or guerrilla fighters. In the summer, temperatures soar to more than 120 degrees.

The lawlessness in this province has allowed drug dealers and smugglers to find haven, and the criminal operations have caused concern in Afghanistan and India. And, as I mentioned here, the neighboring Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchistan is also a wild area.

Here are some of the violent events in Baluchistan in just the last week or two.

* Suspected tribal militants in Pakistan's Balochistan province have blown up four electricity transmission towers, cutting power to a wide area. A technician sent to repair the damage was then killed in an attack. It came only hours after the provincial assembly voted to form a bipartisan panel to try to make peace between the authorities and warring tribal leaders.

* Ten people including five tribal police have been killed and 13 injured in separate bomb blasts in the restive southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan. Three civilians -- a man, a woman and a young girl -- were killed and seven injured in two back-to-back bomb explosions at a state-run farm in the town of Kohlu.

* A bomb has injured four people when it exploded outside a shop in the latest violence to hit Pakistan's restive southwestern Baluchistan province, police said. The blast happened in the town of Mutch outside the provincial capital Quetta, local police said. "It was placed outside the grocery store and appeared to be a timed device," police officer Mohammad Jadoon said.

* Seven homemade bombs toppled two giant high-power electricity transmission towers in southwestern Pakistan and disrupted power to thousands of homes for several hours, officials said.