Occupied Nations, Forgotten Wounds: A Call for Moral Clarity in Global Politics

By Archen Baloch

Just as no healthy muscle can grow on a festering wound, and no building can stand strong on ruins without first clearing the debris, nations oppressed by tyrants cannot progress without healing. In South and West Asia, regions such as Balochistan, Kurdistan, and Al-Ahvaz remain deeply wounded, politically, culturally, and economically, under long-standing military occupations and colonial-style repression. Yet the international community, particularly the Western powers that once carved these regions into arbitrary borders, continues to look away.

These lands were divided not by the will of their people, but by imperial interests that prioritized control over coherence. As Col. Ralph Peters famously wrote in his op-ed “The Blood Borders”, the map of the modern Middle East and South Asia is a patchwork of artificial boundaries, drawn without regard to ethnic, linguistic, or historical realities. The consequences of those colonial decisions still ripple through the present in the form of stateless peoples, suppressed identities, and simmering unrest.

Despite decades of appeals by the leadership of Balochistan, Kurdistan, and Ahvaz, Western powers have largely turned a blind eye. Instead of addressing the core injustices that have destabilized these regions, they continue to engage diplomatically and economically with the very regimes that occupy them, particularly Pakistan and Iran. U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to invest in oil projects in Pakistan is just one example of how global powers prioritize short-term economic interests over long-term justice. Such decisions not only legitimize oppressive regimes but also rub salt into the open wounds of those fighting for dignity and independence.

Over the years, Western nations have established conditions, standards, and norms for struggling nations urging them to adopt peaceful, democratic means in their pursuit of rights, autonomy, or independence. Movements in Balochistan, Kurdistan, and elsewhere have largely adhered to these expectations, despite facing overwhelming state violence. Yet, the same global powers have failed to establish or enforce, any mechanisms to restrain the tyrannical regimes they enable. There are no consequences for Pakistan’s forced disappearances or Iran’s ethnic cleansing policies. The message this sends is dangerously clear: oppressed peoples must behave, but oppressor states are free to brutalize.

Moreover, the idea that these regimes serve as stabilizing forces is increasingly indefensible. Pakistan, for instance, stole nuclear technology from the Netherlands and proliferated it to rogue regimes including Iran, Libya, and North Korea. These actions have directly undermined global non-proliferation efforts and empowered states with histories of repression and aggression. Nuclear blackmail has become a shield behind which internal tyranny is concealed, while external threats are manufactured to distract the global community from domestic crimes against oppressed peoples.

Internally, no nation dares challenge Pakistan or Iran on their human rights violations, because both wield the threat of nuclear retaliation and exploit religious extremism as a political weapon.

Ironically, while they use pan-Islamic narratives abroad, their internal governance is dominated by ultranationalist ethnic elites – Punjabi in Pakistan, and Persian in Iran – who enforce brutal assimilationist policies on Baloch, Kurds, Ahvazi and others. The dissonance between their external slogans and internal repression is stark, and deadly. These regimes create external crises to ward off international scrutiny of their internal authoritarianism.

Whether it’s escalating tensions with neighbors, invoking jihadist language to mobilize militancy, or manipulating sectarian divisions, their goal is always the same: to preserve control by destabilizing others.

The continued Western silence, in this context, is not just passive, it is complicit. If the United States, the European Union, and emerging powers like India wish to be taken seriously as defenders of democracy and human rights, they must stop treating oppressed nations as invisible collateral. The West must finally recognize that its historic responsibility extends beyond drawing borders, it must now help correct the injustices those borders have created.

This means prioritizing the resolution of the Baloch, Kurdish, and Ahvazi national questions, not sidelining them for oil deals or regional alliances. It means asking Pakistan and Iran, unequivocally, to withdraw their military forces from occupied territories. It means supporting independence, not suppressing it in the name of geopolitical convenience.

India, as a regional democracy with its own stake in stability, also has a role to play. Silence or neutrality in the face of occupation is not non-alignment, it is abdication. India must consider whether its strategic partnerships are aligned with its professed values, or whether it is simply enabling oppression through inaction.

The Baloch, the Kurds, the Ahvazis, and other oppressed nations are not asking for charity. They are asking for justice, dignity, and freedom; the very principles on which the modern international order claims to stand.

The world cannot build peace on the foundations of unresolved injustice. Until the debris of colonial borders is cleared, and the wounds of occupied peoples are healed, no lasting structure of stability can emerge.

Now is the time for Western powers, and the broader international community, to prove that their commitment to human rights is more than lip service. Otherwise, every handshake with an oppressor is a betrayal of the oppressed.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Baloch Warna News. The publication provides a platform for diverse perspectives.