The Enemy at the Gate: The Baloch Perspective

By Archen Baloch

It suddenly emerged that China would pour a whopping amount of $ 400 billion into Iran for a 25 years’ strategic security and economic deal! This huge amount of money in the neighborhood is not only mouthwatering for the cash stripped Pakistan, but also it has raised security alarm for peaceful Gulf States, India, Israel America and the Baloch nation as well. The cash stripped Pakistan is now eyeing for a jackal’s share in this China-Iran-Nexus deal, despite the fact that it had already got its lion share from Belt and Road initiative of China in the form of China Pakistan Economic Corridor at the cost of Baloch blood.

 However, to win Iran’s confidence for the jackal’s share, Pakistan has now started to distance itself from Saudi Arabia by blaming it that it is not supporting Kashmir’s cause. In fact, for quite a time, Riyadh has been trying to keep Pakistan away from the Iranian sphere of influence by offering financial aids, which includes the recent $3.2 billion package to bail out Pakistan from the default which is still keeping Islamabad floating. However, China’s $400 billion’s deal with Iran hedged a new hope for Pakistan to turn a rebellious head towards Riyadh and its FM threatened to form another Muslim Ummah block out of OIC with Turkey, Malaysia and Iran if it failed to support its Kashmir cause.

Nonetheless, the tentacles of communist Chinese dragons have also reached fanatic Iran after Pakistan for a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership which is for sure is going against American strategic presence in the Arabian Gulf waters. It has now made the American presence in the Gulf all the more important than ever before, given the fact that Chinese aggressive posture and rapid advancement towards strategic locations of Balochistan’s waters and land (To Baloch, Balochistan is a single entity and Baloch nation don’t recognize the arbitrary border between Iran and Pakistan drawn by the occupying foreign forces).

In Baloch political circles, It is widely believed that China’s entrance into Balochistan entails a catastrophic demographical change for the Baloch nation on both sides of Eastern and Western Balochistan occupied by Pakistan and Iran respectively. The $400 billion are far more than enough to build a China-led security block consisting of Pakistan Iran, Turkey, and Russia, the harbinger of a gigantic shift of power imbalance in the Middle East for the peaceful Gulf States, Israel and India as well.

In this new scenario of West Asia’s geopolitical equation, Pakistan is the most distrusted mate, without Pakistan’ssupport, encouragement and nudge for wide a range of geopolitical considerations; China won’t have made it to dislodge India from Iran and didn’t breach the sanctions imposed by America. Many observers believe that this huge investment will surely reinvigorate Iran’s military mussels to wreak more havoc in the sphere of influence of Saudi Arabia.

What is next? National and regional security threats require permanent defensive fortification. The China Iran Nexus has emerged as a new permanent security threat to the peaceful Gulf States in the Middle East. Iran, under the current geographical order, whether ruled by fanatic Persian Mullah or Persian nationalist democrats or Persian King is either way, a permanent security threat to Gulf States’ stability. The history of the geopolitics of this abnormal country shows that hegemonic Persian nationalism never coexisted peacefully with its neighboring nations, Arabs, Kurds, and Baloch and other religious minorities.

The 14/9 Aramco oil attacks had badly wounded the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s pride as a prominent state of the Arab world, all it needed was to exact a befitting retaliation that could have settled the old and new scores with Iran which was believed to be behind the attacks on Aramco oil installations in Abqaiq. It was a rare opportunity that had just landed on the lap of Saudi and American leadership to put the genie of Iranian extremists in rest.

However, in terms of retaliation, nothing happened except some arguments, Kingdom’s possible war ally America had other strategic security priorities back then, on July 11, 2019, U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, to the Senate, rules out the probability of a war with Iran, saying that “the military is focused on a strategy of great-power competition with Russia and China”. “You mentioned war with Iran,” Milley said. “I don’t know that that would happen but if it did happen it would have a significant impact on the distribution of the force relative to those other priorities”.

The first shock that Trump’s announcement gave to the Middle East was that it would pull its troops from Syria’s north-south of the Kurdish region creating security Vacuum in the Middle East which gave Turkey a clean chit to cull the secular Kurds in the region. America failed the Kurds at a time when Iran was daring a challenge to the international community in international waters way of the Arabian Gulf. We cannot rule out the fact that American backtracking on Iranian blatant aggression on Aramco encouraged Turkey to attack the Kurds when it pulled its troops from northwestern Syria.

It means America had issued a clean chit at the time to Iran to wreak havoc in the Middle East with blanket impunity. The frustration was echoed by Dr. Ali Qureshi, an ex-Saudi army officer who tweeted that America was engaged in dialogue with Iran behind the scene, there is no possibility of America to take on Iran by offensive measures. 

Nevertheless, for all his bluster and backtrackings, President Trump is still obliged to listen to Saudi leadership for a military commitment to take on Iranian aggression for attacking Saudi Arabia. On a discounted moral ground, one needs to admit that when American sanctions provoke Iran into taking daring actions against vulnerable GCC states and their international assets, so what are then the American assurances and measures for safety and security to its allies, especially when one of its second strategic security competitors China has already arrived at the Gate of Gulf – Balochistan?

Balochistan, located at the tri-juncture of three major regions, serves as a bulwark against extremist groups and Iranian influence in the region. An independent Balochistan can play a super rule by becoming a key conduit in linking the Eurasian hinterland’s trade to Gulf ports; however, nothing can be done without the restoration of Balochistan’s independence back to 1928 and 1848 status. Baloch and Kurds are living on their lands but they’re being ruled by despotic Muslim aliens at gunpoint. Here comes the concept of power, whoever poses it would determine the fates, and power is what Baloch and Kurds lack.

Both Iran and Pakistan eulogize all good attributions of Muslim Umma and brotherhood to the world but wreak havoc across the globe to establish Caliphate in Muslim countries. Similarly, when the iron lid of their despotic dominancy over Balochistan and Kurdistanis removed, you will find nothing except the pestering wounds of Baloch and Kurds. If we closely study the attitude and their history of behavior with Baloch and Kurds – how they’ve been ruling Baloch and Kurds – we’ll find that these dominant nations are extremely ultra-nationalists, albeit they’ve succeeded in hiding their ultra-nationalism in the garb of Islam and pseudo federalism from the eyes of the international community with Iron-curtained media blackout. The illegal colonial rulers have forced Baloch and Kurds to suffer from political, cultural and economic hardship for no reason other than to dominate and exploit their natural resources!

A normalization process of relations between Israel and the Gulf States is underway in the Middle East which is largely believed to counter Iranian and Chinese expansionism in the region, it involves defensive fortification in the Gulf States, but the Iranian expansionist whim continues to remain permanent as usual in Middle Eastern Arab countries, for, almost all of these countries don’t have the required lever over Iran to control its destabilizing behavior in the region internally, except the Baloch, Kurds and Arab Al-Ahwaz cards, who’re persecuted on daily basis by the Persian mullah regime. But they’re left lurching alone.

We know that no neighboring Arab nation is happy with Iran and Pakistan for their war crimes against humanity in Balochistan because of the historical brotherly relationship between Baloch and the nations of the Gulf States. However, so far they’ve fastened their lips for some unreasonable reasons in the face of naked Iranian and Pakistani aggression against Baloch nation. Nonetheless, the Baloch nation is hoping that as a strong geopolitical leader of Arab countries, Saudi Arabia can see the light at the end of the tunnel extend its support to the Baloch nation for their liberation movement against illegal Iranian colonial rule over Balochistan.

As it is clearly stated in the US state’s foreign policy statement that “The PRC’s predatory world view has no place in the 21st century” however, the same predator is also looting and plundering Baloch natural resources without the consent of Baloch nation and Baloch are defenseless. 

Selling the ideas of federalism and democracy of western countries to Iran and Pakistan might be a rosy picture but the dominant Turks, Punjabis and Persians are extremely ultra-nationalists in their relationship with oppressed nations. These dominant nations have never bothered to set a precedent – a model of democracy – that might have guaranteed the fundamental rights of Baloch and Kurds as equal federating units. Rather, they’ve treated them as subjects instead of equal stockholders

The Western nations might find it cool that Muslim Persian daughters are wearing jeans beneath their Burkas and when the Burkas fall, a secular democracy will emerge out it, but alas, it is not the case, for Baloch and Kurds, as beneath their skins the relays the Persian ultra-nationalism which has been nurtured for centuries to subjugate Arab, Baloch and Kurds and loot their national resources in the name of federal Iran and Islam.

West, after its disengagement from the expeditions of conquering new territories after Second World War, is now afraid of a new order in the Middle East that they think that it might entail harmful consequences for their decaying old industry-based economies. Here I would like to quote my leader, Hyrbyair Marri who once said that West’s current lot of leadership has no vision and decision making will-power to review the current geopolitical order of Turkey Iran and Pakistan as to why they failed to deliver in term of peace and prosperity as member states of United Nations.

Finally, I would like to argue that given the current convulsions of the geopolitics of West, Asia and the constant new alignments of the forces in the region, Baloch and Kurds are finding it a window of hope that America and its allies including Europe, Gulf State, Israel, India and the Quad’s members will be convinced that the current geopolitical order of Pakistan, Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq have failed to deliver peace, stability and prosperity in the region and they’ve rather given rise to religious fundamentalism and extremism in the region. The secular Free Balochistan offers a lasting solution to the region’s security problems and plays a key role in bridging West Asia and South Asia to Central Asia for trade and commerce – as an alternative corridor to Belt and Road Initiative of China model.