title: Mahabodhi Temple

text: During the 13th century and again the 19th century, Burmese rulers undertook restoration of the temple complex and surrounding wall. In the 1880s, the then-British colonial government of India began to restore Mahabodhi Temple under the direction of Sir Alexander Cunningham and Joseph David Beglar. In 1884, a large Buddha image of the Pāla period, likely removed at an earlier stage to the Mahant's residence from the temple sanctum, was reinstated. The plith of the image was reconstructed at the time and parts of the dedicatory inscription inserted in their current position. The inscription records the rededication of the image by Pīṭhīpati Jayasena in the 13th century. In 1886, Sir Edwin Arnold visited the site and under guidance from Ven. Weligama Sri Sumangala published several articles drawing the attention of the Buddhists to the deplorable conditions of Buddhagaya. The sculpture has since been repaired, painted and gilded and is under active worship in the sanctum.


title: Mahabodhi Temple

text: Mahabodhi Temple is constructed of brick and is one of the oldest brick structures to have survived in eastern India. It is considered to be a fine example of Indian brickwork, and was highly influential in the development of later architectural traditions. According to UNESCO, "the present temple is one of the earliest and most imposing structures built entirely in brick from Gupta period" (300–600 CE). Mahabodhi Temple's central tower rises , and were heavily renovated in the 19th century. The central tower is surrounded by four smaller towers, constructed in the same style.


title: Mahabodhi Temple

text: The Mahabodhi Temple is surrounded on all four sides by stone railings, about two metres high. The railings reveal two distinct types, both in style as well as the materials used. The older ones, made of sandstone, date to about 150 BCE, and the others, constructed from unpolished coarse granite, are believed to be of the Gupta period. The older railings have scenes such as Lakshmi, the Hindu/Buddhist goddess of wealth, being bathed by elephants; and Surya, the Hindu sun god, riding a chariot drawn by four horses. The newer railings have figures of stupas (reliquary shrines) and garudas (eagles). Images of lotus flowers also appear commonly.


title: Mahabodhi Temple

text: Images of the site include Avalokiteśvara (Padmapani, Khasarpana), Vajrapani, Tara, Marichi, Yamantaka, Jambhala and Vajravārāhī.


title: Mahabodhi Temple

text: For centuries before its re-"discovery" by Europeans, the temple was an active place of worship by Shaivite and Vaishnavas who also considered Buddha as an incarnation of Vishnu.


title: Mahabodhi Temple

text: In 1891, a campaign was initiated, seeking the return of control of the temple to Buddhists, over the objections of the Hindu mahant. Sir Edwin Arnold, author of "The Light of Asia", started advocating for the renovation of the site and its return to Buddhist care. Arnold was directed towards this endeavour by Weligama Sri Sumangala Thera. In 1891, Anagarika Dharmapala was on a pilgrimage to the recently restored Mahabodhi Temple. Here he experienced a shock to find the temple in the hands of a Saivite priest, the Buddha image transformed into a Hindu icon and Buddhists barred from worship. As a result, he began an agitation movement.


title: Mahabodhi Temple

text: The Maha Bodhi Society at Colombo was founded in 1891 but its offices were soon moved to Calcutta the following year in 1892. One of its primary aims was the restoration to Buddhist control of the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya, the chief of the four ancient Buddhist holy sites. To accomplish this, Dharmapala initiated a lawsuit against the Brahmin priests who had held control of the site for centuries. After a protracted struggle, this was successful only after Indian independence (1947) and sixteen years after Dharmapala's own death (1933), with the partial restoration of the site to the management of the Maha Bodhi Society in 1949. It was then the temple management of Bodh Gaya was entrusted to a committee comprised in equal numbers of Hindus and Buddhists. The campaign was partially successful in 1949, when control passed from the Hindu mahant to the state government of Bihar, which established a Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee (BTMC) under the Bodh Gaya Temple Act of 1949. The committee has nine members, a majority of whom, including the chairman, must by law be Hindus. Mahabodhi's first head monk under the management committee was Anagarika Munindra, a Bengali man who had been an active member of the Maha Bodhi Society.


title: Mahabodhi Temple

text: In 2013, the Bihar government amended the Bodh Gaya Temple Act of 1949, allowing for a non-Hindu to head the temple committee. Also in 2013, one thousand Indian Buddhists protested at the Mahabodhi Temple site to demand that control over it be given to Buddhists. These Buddhists included such leaders as Bhante Anand (president of the Akhil Bharatiya Bhikkhu Mahasangh, an influential body of monks), as well as the president of the Bodh Gaya Mukti Andolan Samiti. Additionally, Japanese-born Surai Sasai emerged as an important Buddhist leader in India as both he and Bhante Anand became two of the most well-known leaders of this campaign to free the temple from Hindu control.


title: Mahabodhi Temple

text: The Bihar state government assumed responsibility for the protection, management, and monitoring of the temple and its properties when India gained its independence. Pursuant to the Bodh Gaya Temple Act of 1949, such responsibilities are shared with the Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee, and an advisory board. The committee, which serves for a


title: Mahabodhi Temple

text: three-year term, must by law consist of four Buddhist and four Hindu representatives, including the head of Sankaracharya Math monastery as an ex-officio Hindu member. A 2013 Amendment to the Bodhgaya Temple Management Act allows the Gaya District Magistrate to be the Chairman of the committee, even if he is not Hindu. The Advisory Board consists of the governor of Bihar and twenty to twenty-five other members, half of them from foreign Buddhist countries.


title: Mahabodhi Temple

text: In June 2002, the Mahabodhi Temple became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. All finds of religious artifacts in the area are legally protected under the Treasure Trove Act of 1878.


title: Mahabodhi Temple

text: The temple's head monk, Bhikkhu Bodhipala, resigned in 2007 after he was charged with cutting the branches of Holy Bodhi Tree on a regular basis and selling them to foreigners for significant amounts of money. A newspaper alleged that wealthy Thai buyers bought a branch with the cooperation of senior members of the temple's management committee. While the temple's spokesman stated that botanists had pruned the tree, the Bihar home secretary ordered the tree examined. A criminal charge was filed against Bodhipala. If convicted, Bodhipala would be subject to at least 10 years' imprisonment.


title: Mahabodhi Temple

text: Following the expiration of the committee's term in September 2007, Bihar's government delayed appointing a new Committee and the district magistrate administered the temple pending such appointment. Eventually, on May 16, 2008 the government announced the appointment of a new Temple Management Committee.


title: Mahabodhi Temple

text: In 2013, the upper portion of the temple was covered with 289 kg of gold. The gold was a gift from the King of Thailand and devotees from Thailand, and installed with the approval of the Archaeological Survey of India.


title: Mahabodhi Temple

text: On 7 July 2013, ten low-intensity bombs exploded in the temple complex, injuring 5 people. One bomb was near the statue of Buddha and another was near the Mahabodhi tree. Three unexploded bombs were also found and defused. The blasts took place between 5.30 a.m. and 6.00 a.m. The main temple was undamaged. The Intelligence Bureau of India may have alerted state officials of possible threats around 15 days prior to the bombing. On 4 November 2013, the National Investigation Agency announced that the Islamic terrorist group Indian Mujahideen was responsible for the bombings.


title: Mahabodhi Temple

text: Mahabodhi Temple is one of the most replicated Buddhist structures, both as temples and miniature replicas.


title: Karelians

text: Karelians (, Finnish: , , ) are a Finnic ethnic group who are indigenous to the historical region of Karelia, which is today split between Finland and Russia. Karelians living in Russian Karelia are considered a distinct ethnic group closely related to Finnish Karelians, who are considered a subset of Finns. This distinction historically arose from Karelia having been fought over and eventually split between Sweden and Novgorod, resulting in Karelians being under different cultural spheres.


title: Karelians

text: In Russia, Karelians mostly live in the Republic of Karelia, where they are the designated ethnic group, and in other adjacent north-western parts of the country. They traditionally speak the Karelian language and are Eastern Orthodox Christians. There are also significant Karelian enclaves in the Tver and Novgorod oblasts, as some Karelians migrated to those areas after the Russo-Swedish War of 1656-1658.


title: Karelians

text: In Finland, the term Karelian generally refers to the Finnish Karelians, who are a subset of Finns. There were Karelian-speaking Karelians living in the easternmost parts of Finnish Karelia, known as "Border Karelia" ("Raja-Karjala"). As Finland had to cede parts of Karelia to the Soviet Union in World War II, evacuated Karelians and Finnish Karelians settled elsewhere in Finland. A minority of them, about 38,000, were Border Karelian Orthodox Christians, who traditionally spoke Karelian. However, owing to Karelian not being recognized as its own language by the Finnish government until recently, most of these Karelians had no choice but to learn Finnish and now speak mostly Finnish.


title: Karelians

text: The first written mention of Karelia and Karelians occurs in Scandinavian sources. Several old Scandinavian sagas and chronicles refer to Karelia sometimes as Karjalabotn, Kirjalabotnar, or Kirjaland, which means that Karelians and Karelia were known to the Vikings as early as the 7th century. Another mention of Karelians in Scandinavian sources is "The Chronicle of Erik". Part of the Chronicle mentions a Karelian raid to the then notable Swedish town of Sigtuna in 1187 and its subsequent pillage. This mention of Karelian raids on Sweden in the chronicle is given as the main reason to found Stockholm, the current capital of Sweden.


title: Karelians

text: The first mention of Karelians in ancient Russian chronicles dates to 1143 when the Novgorod chronicle mentions that Karelians raided neighbouring Tavastia (Häme). Ancient Russian chronicles referred to ancient Karelians as Koryela. Until the end of the 13th century, Karelians enjoyed a period of relative independence and self-government. However, as Karelians came in contact with Novgorod some of them started to take part in the Novgorodian internal and external politics. Russian chronicles mention a joint raid of Novgorod and Karelians on Tavastia in 1191. In the 13th century, the Karelian relationship with Novgorod underwent significant changes, from partnership and alliance to gradual dominance by the latter.


title: Karelians

text: In 1227, an attempt was made to convert Karelians to Eastern Orthodoxy. In 1253, Karelians aided Novgorod in its wars with Estonians. In 1269 AD, the Duke of Novgorod prepared a raid against Karelians, but he abandoned his plans as he was advised against it by his councilors. In 1278, Novgorod made war against Karelians and, according to the chronicle, put Karelian lands "to sword and fire", which significantly reduced Karelian military power.


title: Karelians

text: While Novgorod unsuccessfully tried to subdue Karelians, Sweden achieved its goals over the neighbouring Finnish tribes. The Swedes raided Karelian lands, began to convert the local population to Roman Catholicism and attempted to ensure their complete dominance with the foundation of castles, in 1293 at Vyborg and in 1295 at Kexholm (Käkisalmi in Finnish, Koryela in Russian chronicles), on the sites of ancient Karelian settlements. However, Novgorod managed to repel the Swedish attack by capturing and burning down Kexholm Castle. After this, Sweden and Novgorod engaged in the long conflict for rule over the Karelians and their lands.


title: Karelians

text: In 1314, Karelians rose up against efforts made to convert them to Christianity, according to the Novgorod chronicle. The first rebellion started against Russian Orthodoxy with Käkisalmi captured and the killing of all Christians there. Then the rebellion spread over all Karelian lands, which sufficiently weakened Novgorodian influence.


title: Karelians

text: In 1323 AD, Karelians suffered a forceful sundering as Sweden and Novgorod divided Karelian lands and their inhabitants by signing a peace agreement. The agreement transferred governance of all western Karelian lands to Swedish sovereignty, while eastern Karelian lands fell under Novgorodian rule. This sundering started a long process of separation of Karelians into two different halves, with the main difference being religion, as western Karelians became first Roman Catholic and later Lutheran, while eastern Karelians were converted to Eastern Orthodoxy.


title: Karelians

text: Subsequent wars had Karelians fighting on both sides of the conflict and often against each other. Meanwhile, Karelians on the Novgorodian and later Russian side of the border continued to settle northward towards the White Sea. By the late 14th century, Russian Karelians established control over White Karelia and came in conflict with the Norwegians on the peninsula of Kola.


title: Karelians

text: As the struggle for power in the region continued over the next centuries the borderline between Sweden and Russia moved several times with most of the changes happening in Northern Karelia and Kainuu. However, in 1617, the history of Karelians underwent a significant change as Russia ceded to Sweden, along with other territories, the eastern part of the Karelian Isthmus, Ladoga Karelia and modern-day North Karelia. This meant that the majority of Karelians were again living in one country, yet it did not bring peace to the Karelian people. As Sweden commenced the process of conversion of population of the ceded territories to Lutheran Protestantism, resistance appeared among Old-Believer Orthodox Karelians and neighbouring Orthodox Izhorians.


title: Karelians

text: By the mid 17th century, the tension between the Lutheran Swedish government and Orthodox Karelians led to yet another conflict between Sweden and Russia. From 1656 to 1658, Russian armed forces waged war on Karelian territories and tried to recapture them with the aid of some of the sympathizing local Orthodox population, but after two years of fighting both sides came to a stand-still.


title: Karelians

text: Many of the Karelians who remained Orthodox by 1658 AD were unwilling to remain in Sweden and convert to Lutheranism, which triggered a mass migration of many Orthodox Karelians from these areas into other parts of Russia, some going to the region of Tver and forming the Tver Karelians minority, while others moved to the region of Valdai in the Novgorod region and yet others to White Karelia by the White Sea.


title: Karelians

text: As some of the lands in the eastern Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia became partially depopulated Sweden decided to move settlers from Savonia to those Karelian lands which resulted in a mixture of local Karelians with Savonians in some areas. However, as Savonians themselves are of Karelian origin, this migration mostly affected local Karelians religiously (as the majority of the population became Lutheran) and to some extent linguistically, but it did not bring major changes to the ethnic map of Karelia.


title: Karelians

text: The next change happened in 1721 as Russia won the great northern war against Sweden (1700–21), which forced Sweden to cede the entire Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia to Russia, with its now mostly Lutheran population. Although there were attempts to convert the local population to Orthodoxy these did not meet with any success.


title: Karelians

text: After Russia conquered the entire Finnish territories in yet another Russo-Swedish war in 1808–09, it was decided to join the Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia to the newly formed Grand Duchy of Finland in 1812, which brought all western Karelians into the same state with Finns, while eastern Karelians remained under independent Russian administration. Although Karelians ended up in the same country the religious difference between eastern and western Karelians remained a dividing factor, which somewhat affected the linguistics but even until the beginning of the 20th century both groups could understand each other. Yet eastern Karelians managed to preserve traditions and folklore better than western Karelians.


title: Karelians

text: As the Grand Duchy of Finland was formed, its inhabitants struggled to properly identify themselves ethnically, some being Finnish, some Swedish and some Karelian. As the Fennoman movement started and the new Finnish nation commenced its forming and shaping process, attempts were made to restore the lost Finnish identity. The process of "finnisation" of Finland started. As part of that process during the 19th century, Finnish folklorists including Elias Lönnrot traveled to different parts of Eastern Karelia to gather folklore and epic poetry. The Orthodox Karelians in North Karelia and Russia were now seen as close brethren or even a sub-group of the Finns. The ideology of "Karelianism" inspired Finnish artists and researchers, who believed that the Orthodox Karelians had retained elements of an archaic, original Finnish culture which had disappeared from Finland. This led to numerous confusions with some claiming that western and eastern Karelians were different nations.


title: Karelians

text: As Finland gained its independence in 1917 the process of "finnisation" continued, but now even eastern Karelians were viewed as part of the Finnish nation. From 1918 to 1922, Finland made several attempts to expand into Eastern Karelia with some support by local Karelians. Several thousands of eastern Karelians migrated to Finland by 1922 from different parts of Eastern Karelia.


title: Karelians

text: After the Winter War, Finland had to cede the Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia to the USSR. As the local Karelian population was unwilling to end up under Soviet rule, over 400,000 people were evacuated across Finland's new border from the territories that were to be ceded. After the Continuation War (1941–1944), in which Finland temporarily held most of Eastern Karelia, several thousands of Karelians chose to migrate west as Finnish forces retreated. The Karelians who migrated to Finland in the 20th century were initially Karelian speakers, but due to minor lingual differences and in order to assimilate into the local communities soon adopted the Finnish language after the war. Some of the evacuees later immigrated, mainly to Sweden, Australia and North America.


title: Karelians

text: Russian Karelians, living in the Republic of Karelia, are nowadays rapidly being absorbed into the Russian population. This process began several decades ago. For example, it has been estimated that even between the 1959 and 1970 Soviet censuses, nearly 30 percent of those who were enumerated as Karelian by self-identification in 1959 changed their self-identification to Russian 11 years later.


title: Karelians

text: The Karelian language is closely related to the Finnish language. There are the dialects of what can be classified of Karelian language


title: Karelians

text: In addition to that, dialects of Karelian language are also spoken in different locations in the current area of Finland and elsewhere after WWII and in some villages near the Russian border in Kainuu region the northern dialect of Karelian language has been spoken continuously until now.


title: Karelians

text: The majority of Russian Karelians are Eastern Orthodox Christians. Karelian shamanism is still practiced by some Karelians. Folk-beliefs have also been widely incorporated into Christianity by Orthodox Karelians. Karelian tales, along with some Finnish ones, have been collected to form Kalevala.


title: Karelians

text: Significant enclaves of Karelians exist in the Tver oblast of Russia, resettled after Russia's defeat in 1617 against Sweden — in order to escape forced conversion to Lutheranism in Swedish Karelia. The Russians also promised tax deductions if the Orthodox Karelians migrated there. Olonets (Aunus) is the only city in Russia where the Karelians form a majority (60% of the population).


title: Karelians

text: Karelians have been declining in numbers in modern times significantly due to a number of factors. These include low birthrates (characteristic of the region in general) and especially Russification, due to the predominance of Russian language and culture.


title: Karelians

text: In 1926, according to the census, Karelians only accounted for 37.4% of the population in the Soviet Karelian Republic (which at that time did not yet include territories that would later be taken from Finland and added, most of which had mostly Karelian inhabitants), or 0.1 million Karelians. Russians, meanwhile, numbered 153,967 in Karelia, or 57.2% of the population.


title: Karelians

text: By 2000, there were 65,651 Karelians in the Republic of Karelia (65.1% of the number in 1926, including the Karelian regions taken from Finland which were not counted in 1926), and Karelians made up only 9.2% of the population in their homeland. Russians, meanwhile, were 76.6% of the population in Karelia.


title: Ironman World Championship

text: The Ironman World Championship has been held annually in Hawaii since 1978, with an additional race in 1982. It is owned and organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. It is the annual culmination of a series of Ironman triathlon qualification races held throughout the world.


title: Ironman World Championship

text: From 1978 through 1980 the race was held on the island of Oahu, the course combining that of three events already held there: the Waikiki Roughwater Swim (2.4 mi./3.86 km), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 mi./185.07 km, originally a two-day event), and the Honolulu Marathon. The bike stage was reduced by 3 miles to link it to the start of the marathon course. In 1981 the race was moved to the less urbanized Big Island, keeping the distances the same: a open water swim in Kailua-Kona Bay, a bike ride across the Hawaiian lava desert to Hāwī and back, and a marathon (26 miles 385 yards, 42.195 km) run along the coast of the Big Island from Keauhou to Keahole Point and back to Kailua-Kona, finishing on Alii Drive.


title: Ironman World Championship

text: Since 1982, the race has been held in the fall each year, before which it was held in the spring, giving two races in 1982. The most recent Ironman World Championship took place on 8 October 2022, following a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualifying for the World Championship is achieved through placement in one of the other Ironman races or some Ironman 70.3 races. Because of COVID-19, the 2020 race was initially postponed to February 2021. However, the race was ultimately canceled with that year's qualifiers able to defer to race in 2021 or 2022.


title: Ironman World Championship

text: The current Ironman Hawaii course record was set in 2022 by Gustav Iden (Norway), whose winning time was 7 hrs 40 min 24 sec. The women's course record is 8 hrs 26 mins 18 sec, set in 2018 by Daniela Ryf (Switzerland).


title: Ironman World Championship

text: Athletes with disabilities compete in the event in the physically challenged category, which was instituted in 1997, and are required to meet the same cutoff times as able bodied competitors. Australian John Maclean was the first physically challenged athlete to complete the event under the cut-off time.


title: Ironman World Championship

text: The 2021 World Championship was held in St. George, Utah on May 7, 2022. The delay and change from the original Kona, Hawaii venue were due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Ironman World Championship

text: Until 2015, individuals could enter a lottery for the chance to participate in the Ironman World Championship. The lottery entry fee was $50 and afforded the chance to win one of 100 berths in the championship race. If selected the winners then had to pay the normal entry fee.


title: Ironman World Championship

text: However, according to a sworn complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in Tampa, Florida, Ironman illegally charged athletes for a chance to win the opportunity to compete in the Ironman World Championship. According to Florida law, the state where the World Triathlon Corporation resides, it is illegal to set up and charge for a lottery. Because WTC charged a $50 fee to enter the lottery, instead of giving away the opportunity to win a slot at the championships, they were in violation of this law. Following the complaint WTC cooperated with the United States Attorneys office and the FBI's investigation of the matter and agreed to forfeit $2,761,910, the amount collected from the lottery since October 24, 2012. The attorney representing the United States in the matter was 8-time Ironman finisher James A. Muench.


title: Ironman World Championship

text: Winners of the 2015 lottery were notified on March 17, 2015, prior to the announcement of the complaint. WTC stated that these winners would be unaffected by this decision and that their slots for the upcoming championship race would be honored.


title: Borstal

text: A Borstal was a type of youth detention centre in the United Kingdom, several member states of the Commonwealth and the Republic of Ireland. In India, such a detention centre is known as a Borstal school.


title: Borstal

text: Borstals were run by HM Prison Service and were intended to reform young offenders. The word is sometimes used loosely to apply to other kinds of youth institutions and reformatories, such as approved schools and youth detention centres. The court sentence was officially called "Borstal training". Borstals were originally for offenders under 21, but in the 1930s the maximum age was increased to 23. The Criminal Justice Act 1982 abolished the Borstal system in the UK, replacing Borstals with youth custody centres.


title: Borstal

text: In India, Borstal schools are used for the imprisonment of minors. As of 31 December 2014, there were twenty functioning Borstal schools in India, with a combined total capacity of 2,108 inmates.


title: Borstal

text: The Gladstone Committee (1895) first proposed the concept of the borstal, wishing to separate youths from older convicts in adult prisons. It was the task of Sir Evelyn Ruggles-Brise (1857–1935), a prison commissioner, to introduce the system, and the first such institution was established at Borstal Prison in a village called Borstal, near Rochester, Kent, England, in 1902. The system was developed on a national basis and formalised in the Prevention of Crime Act 1908.


title: Borstal

text: The regimen in these institutions was designed to be "educational rather than punitive", but it was highly regulated, with a focus on routine, discipline and authority during the early years. Borstal institutions were originally designed to offer education, regular work and discipline, though one commentator has claimed that "more often than not they were breeding grounds for bullies and psychopaths."


title: Borstal

text: The Criminal Justice Act 1982 officially abolished the borstal system in the UK, introducing youth custody centres instead. As society had changed the system was then already outdated especially since the late 1960s and early 1970s, with many borstals being closed and replaced with institutions called Detention Centres and, from 1972, also with Community Service Order sentences.


title: Borstal

text: Except in Northern Ireland, the only corporal punishment officially available in borstals was the birch for mutiny or assaulting an officer, and this could be imposed only by the visiting magistrates, subject in each case to the personal approval of the Home Secretary, just as in adult prisons. Only male inmates over 18 might be so punished. This power was very rarely used – there were only seven birching cases in borstals in the 10 years to 1936. This birching power was available only in England and Wales (not in Scottish borstals). Caning as a more day-to-day punishment was used in the single borstal in Northern Ireland but was not authorised in Scotland or England and Wales. Confusion on this matter arises perhaps because in approved schools, a quite different kind of youth institution based more on the open "boarding school" model, caning was an official punishment for young people (maximum age 19).


title: Borstal

text: A similar system under the name "borstal" or "borstal school" has also been introduced in several other Commonwealth countries.


title: Borstal

text: In India, nine states, namely Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, have borstal schools in their respective jurisdictions. Tamil Nadu had the highest capacity, at 678 inmates (as of 2014). Himachal Pradesh and Kerala are the only states that have the capacity to lodge female inmates in two of their borstal schools. There are no borstal schools in any of the union territories.


title: Borstal

text: In Ireland the Criminal Justice Act, 1960 (Section 12) removed the term "borstal" from official use. This was part of a policy to broaden the system from reform and training institutions to a place of detention for youths between 17 and 21 for any sentence which carried a prison term. The only borstal in the state was based for most of its existence in Clonmel, in County Tipperary. Founded in 1906, it finally closed in 1956, when the remaining detainees were transferred to the newly established St. Patrick's Institution in Dublin. Industrial schools performed a similar function to borstals.


title: Borstal

text: A ninth series episode of the BBC television show "Father Brown", titled "The Wayward Girls" and first broadcast in January 2022, was set in a borstal.


title: Borstal

text: "Dog Borstal" is the title of a British television series in which dog trainers address challenging behaviour by dogs.


title: Raw material

text: A raw material, also known as a feedstock, unprocessed material, or primary commodity, is a basic material that is used to produce goods, finished goods, energy, or intermediate materials that are feedstock for future finished products. As feedstock, the term connotes these materials are bottleneck assets and are required to produce other products.


title: Raw material

text: The term "raw material" denotes materials in unprocessed or minimally processed states; e.g., raw latex, crude oil, cotton, coal, raw biomass, iron ore, air, logs, water, or "any product of agriculture, forestry, fishing or mineral in its natural form or which has undergone the transformation required to prepare it for international marketing in substantial volumes". The term "secondary raw material" denotes waste material which has been recycled and injected back into use as productive material.


title: Raw material

text: While pottery originated in many different points around the world, it is certain that it was brought to light mostly through the Neolithic Revolution. That is important because it was a way for the first agrarians to store and carry a surplus of supplies. While most jars and pots were fire-clay ceramics, Neolithic communities also created kilns that were able to fire such materials to remove most of the water to create very stable and hard materials. Without the presence of clay on the riverbanks of the Tigris and Euphrates in the Fertile Crescent, such kilns would have been impossible for people in the region to have produced. Using these kilns, the process of metallurgy was possible once the Bronze and Iron Ages came upon the people that lived there.


title: Raw material

text: Many raw metallic materials used in industrial purposes must first be processed into a usable state. Metallic ores are first processed through a combination of crushing, roasting, magnetic separation, flotation, and leaching to make them suitable for use in a foundry. Foundries then smelt the ore into usable metal that may be alloyed with other materials to improve certain properties. One metallic raw material that is commonly found across the world is iron, and combined with nickel, this material makes up over 35% of the material in the Earth's inner and outer core. The iron that was initially used as early as 4000 BC was called meteoric iron and was found on the surface of the Earth. This type of iron came from the meteorites that struck the Earth before humans appeared, and was in very limited supply. This type is unlike most of the iron in the Earth, as the iron in the Earth was much deeper than the humans of that time period were able to excavate. The nickel content of the meteoric iron made it not necessary to be heated up, and instead, it was hammered and shaped into tools and weapons.


title: Raw material

text: Iron ore can be found in a multitude of forms and sources. The primary forms of iron ore today are Hematite and Magnetite. While iron ore can be found throughout the world, only the deposits in the order of millions of tonnes are processed for industrial purposes. The top five exporters of Iron ore are Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Canada, and Ukraine. One of the first sources of iron ore is bog iron. Bog iron takes the form of pea-sized nodules that are created under peat bogs at the base of mountains.


title: Raw material

text: Places with plentiful raw materials and little economic development often show a phenomenon, known as "Dutch disease" or the "resource curse", which occurs when the economy of a country is mainly based upon its exports because of its method of governance. An example of this is the Democratic Republic of the Congo.


title: Raw material

text: Raw materials are also used by non-humans, such as birds using found objects and twigs to create nests.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: The Insurgency in Balochistan is an insurgency or revolt by Baloch nationalists against the governments of Pakistan and Iran in the Balochistan region, which covers the Balochistan Province in southwestern Pakistan, Sistan and Baluchestan Province in southeastern Iran, and the Balochistan region of southern Afghanistan. Rich in natural resources like natural gas, oil, coal, copper, sulphur, fluoride and gold, this is the largest and least developed province in Pakistan. Armed groups demand greater control of the province's natural resources and political autonomy. Baloch separatists have attacked civilians from other ethnicities throughout the province. In the 2010s, attacks against the Shia community by sectarian groups—though not always directly related to the political struggle—have risen, contributing to tensions in Balochistan.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: The origins of the insurgency in Balochistan, according to political scientist Salman Rafi Sheikh, are in the uncertainty regarding the Instrument of Accession (Kalat). In Pakistan's Balochistan province, insurgencies by Baloch nationalists have been fought in 1948, 1958–59, 1962–63 and 1973–1977, with an ongoing low-level insurgency beginning in 2003. This insurgency has begun to weaken. In an article titled "The End of Pakistan's Baloch Insurgency?", Baloch analyst Malik Siraj Akbar reported that Baloch militants had begun killing their own commanders. However, Akbar called anger towards provincial Chief Minister Abdul Malik Baloch "growing and often uncontrollable". Baloch militants have taken some reconciliation offers from the government and offered to hand in their weapons. In April 2016, four militant commanders and 144 militants had surrendered under reconciliation. 600 rebels were killed and 1,025 surrendered after accepting reconciliation as of August 2016. In April 2017, another 500 Baloch rebels surrendered to the state, including members of BRA, UBA, and LeB.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Baloch separatists argue they are economically marginalised and poor compared to the rest of Pakistan. China has invested $46 billion in the region. The Balochistan Liberation Army, designated as a terrorist organisation by Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States, is the most widely known Baloch separatist group. Since 2000 it has conducted numerous deadly attacks on Pakistani military troops, police, journalists, civilians and education institutions. Other separatist groups include Lashkar-e-Balochistan and the Balochistan Liberation United Front (BLUF).


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: By 2005, the rebellion by Baloch separatists had once again resurged in Iran. The fight over the Iranian Baloch region bordering Pakistan has "not gained" as much ground as the conflict in Pakistan. Human rights activists have accused nationalist militants and the Government of Pakistan of human rights abuses in its suppression of the insurgency.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: "The News International" reported in 2012 that a Gallup survey conducted for DFID revealed that the most of the Balochistan province does not support independence from Pakistan, with only 37% of ethnic Baloch and 12% of Pashtuns in Balochistan favoring independence. However, 67% of Balochistan's population favored greater provincial autonomy, including 79% of ethnic Baloch and 53% of Pashtuns in the province.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Historical Balochistan covers the southern part of the Iranian Sistan and Baluchestan Province in the west, the Pakistani province of Balochistan in the east, and, in the northwest, part of Afghanistan's Helmand Province. The Gulf of Oman forms its southern border. Mountains and desert make up much of the region's terrain. A majority of Baloch inhabit the region of Balochistan that predominantly falls within Pakistan's borders.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Geographically, Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan (comprising 44% of the country's total area), but it is the least developed and least inhabited, comprising only 5% of the total population. Sunni Islam is the predominant religion throughout the Balochistan region.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Stuart Notholt, in his "Atlas of Ethnic Conflict", describes the unrest in Balochistan as a "nationalist/self-determination conflict".


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: The Baloch nationalist movement is centred on the Khanate of Kalat, established in 1666 by Mir Ahmad. Under Nasir I of Kalat in 1758, who accepted the Afghan paramountcy, the boundaries of Kalat stretched up to Dera Ghazi Khan in the east and Bandar Abbas in the west. However, in November 1839, the British invaded Kalat, and the Khan was killed in action during the invasion. Afterwards, the British influence in the region gradually grew. In 1869, the British Political Agent Robert Groves Sandeman ended up mediating a dispute between the Khan of Kalat and the Sardars of Balochistan, and established the British primacy in the region. The tribal areas of Marri, Bugti, Khetran and Chaghi were brought under the direct administration of a British Agent, eventually to become the Chief Commissioner's Province of Balochistan. Lasbela and Kharan were declared Special Areas with a different political system. The remaining areas of Sarawan, Jhalawan, Kacchi and Makran were retained as the Khanate of Kalat, supervised by a Political Agent of Kalat.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: In the 20th century, the educated Baloch middle class harboured hopes of their independence from British colonial rule. They formed a nationalist movement Anjuman-e-Ittehad-e-Balochistan in 1931. One of their first campaigns was to fight for the accession of Azam Jan as the Khan of Kalat and a constitutional government to be established under him. They were successful in establishing Azam Jan as the Khan but the new Khan sided with the Sardars and turned his back on the Anjuman. His successor Mir Ahmad Yar Khan was more sympathetic to Anjuman but he was averse to upsetting his relations with the British. The Anujman, transformed into the Kalat State National Party (KSNP), continued to fight for independence from the British. It was declared illegal by the Khanate in 1939 and its active leaders and activists were exiled. This paved the way for the formation of new political parties, Balochistan Muslim League allied to the Muslim League in June 1939 and Anjuman-i-Watan allied to the Indian National Congress in the same year. Led by Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai, the Anjuman-i-Water was opposed to the partition of India and wanted a united India after the country gained independence from Britain.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: During British rule Balochistan was under the rule of a Chief Commissioner and did not have the same status as other provinces of British India. The Muslim League under Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the period 1927-1947 strived to introduce reforms in Balochistan to bring it on par with other provinces of British India.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: During the time of the Indian independence movement, public opinion in Balochistan, at least in Quetta and other small towns, was overwhelmingly in favour of Pakistan. The pro-India Congress, which drew support from Hindus and some Muslims, sensing that geographic and demographic compulsions would not allow the province's inclusion into the newly Independent India, began to encourage separatist elements in Balochistan, and other Muslim majority provinces such as NWFP.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: The Khan of Kalat lent great support to the Pakistan Movement but also desired to declare independence. Lord Mountbatten, however, made it clear that the princely states with the lapse of British paramountcy would have to join either India or Pakistan, keeping in mind their geographic and demographic compulsions.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 19 July, Mountbatten called a Round Table Conference meeting between representatives of the State of Kalat and Government of Pakistan. Mountbatten discussed with them the status of the Kalat State. The representatives of Kalat argued that Kalat, as per the treaty of 1876, was an independent and sovereign state and not an Indian state. Mountbatten accepted this position for the purpose of negotiation, although Kalat had always been a princely state. Thus, Mountbatten confined the topic of discussion to the leased areas of Quetta, Nushki, Nasirabad and Bolan. He explained that Pakistan rejected Kalat's claims that these areas should be returned to Kalat.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Pakistan's position was that it would inherit all treaty obligations incurred by India to the foreign states. Kalat argued that the leases clearly stated that the other party besides Kalat was the British Government alone. Kalat argued that it was a personal agreement and there was no provision that the leases to the British would be inherited by others. Therefore, since the agreement was between Kalat and the British Government, Pakistan could not be the latter's successor party.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Pakistan did not agree that the agreement was personal as personal agreements by nature implied that only a particular person was involved. Mountbatten also said that according to international law, treaties such as the one being discussed were inherited by successors and not invalidated by a transfer of power. Mountbatten also suggested that in case there was no agreement the matter could be put before an Arbitral Tribunal.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Kalat wished to have further discussions on the matter. Kalat also argued that in case of a vote in the leased areas between joining Kalat and joining Pakistan then the vote would go in favour of the former. Pakistan did not agree that the vote would have such a result.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Kalat also expressed its deepest desire to remain on friendly terms with Pakistan and stated that it understood that Jinnah, who was anxious for a correct decision, wanted more time to study the issues between Kalat and Pakistan. Mountbatten, however, suggested that Jinnah not be brought into the discussions.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Mountbatten insisted that Kalat and Pakistan sign a standstill agreement, which both countries did. The Standstill Agreement also stipulated that both parties would discuss as soon as possible about their relationship concerning Defence and External Affairs. According to the Article I, 'The Government of Pakistan agrees that Kalat is an independent State, being quite different in status from other States of India'. However, the Article IV stated:


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: However, without making any agreement with Pakistan and in violation of the Standstill Agreement the Khan of Kalat declared independence, to Jinnah's shock. Later on, the ruler of Kalat unconditionally signed an Instrument of Accession with Pakistan on 27 March 1948, contrary to the wishes of his state's legislature.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Balochistan contained a Chief Commissioner's province and four princely states under the British Raj. The province's Shahi Jirga and the non-official members of the Quetta Municipality opted for Pakistan unanimously on 29 June 1947. Three of the princely states, Makran, Las Bela and Kharan, acceded to Pakistan in 1947 after independence. But the ruler of the fourth princely state, the Khan of Kalat, Ahmad Yar Khan, who used to call Jinnah his 'father', declared Kalat's independence as this was one of the options given to all of the 535 princely states by British Prime Minister Clement Attlee.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Kalat finally acceded to Pakistan on 27 March 1948 after the 'strange help' of All India Radio and a period of negotiations and bureaucratic tactics used by Pakistan. The signing of the Instrument of Accession by Ahmad Yar Khan, led his brother, Prince Abdul Karim, to revolt against his brother's decision in July 1948. Princes Agha Abdul Karim Baloch and Muhammad Rahim, refused to lay down arms, leading the Dosht-e Jhalawan in unconventional attacks on the army until 1950. The Princes fought a lone battle without support from the rest of Balochistan. Jinnah and his successors allowed Yar Khan to retain his title until the province's dissolution in 1955.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Nawab Nauroz Khan took up arms in resistance to the One Unit policy, which decreased government representation for tribal leaders, from 1958 to 1959. He and his followers started a guerrilla war against Pakistan, and were arrested, charged with treason, and imprisoned in Hyderabad. Five of his family members, sons and nephews, were subsequently hanged on charges of treason and aiding in the murder of Pakistani troops. Nawab Nauroz Khan later died in captivity. Nawab Nauroz Khan fought a lone battle as the rest of Balochistan did not support the uprising.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: After the second conflict, a Baloch separatist movement gained momentum in the 1960s, following the introduction of a new constitution in 1956 which limited provincial autonomy and enacted the 'One Unit' concept of political organisation in Pakistan. Tension continued to grow amid consistent political disorder and instability at the federal level. The federal government tasked the Pakistan Army with building several new bases in key areas of Balochistan. Sher Muhammad Bijrani Marri led like-minded militants into guerrilla warfare from 1963 to 1969 by creating their own insurgent bases. Their goal was to force Pakistan to share revenue generated from the Sui gas fields with the tribal leaders. The insurgents bombed railway tracks and ambushed convoys. The Army retaliated by destroying the militant camps. This insurgency ended in 1969, with the Baloch separatists agreeing to a ceasefire. In 1970 Pakistani President Yahya Khan abolished the "One Unit" policy, which led to the recognition of Balochistan as the fourth province of West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan), including all the Balochistani princely states, the High Commissioners Province, and Gwadar, an 800 km coastal area purchased from Oman by the Pakistani government.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: The unrest continued into the 1970s, culminating in a government-ordered military operation in the region in 1973.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: In 1973, citing treason, President Bhutto dismissed the provincial governments of Balochistan and NWFP and imposed martial law in those areas, which led to armed insurgency. Khair Bakhsh Marri formed the Balochistan People's Liberation Front (BPLF), which led large numbers of Marri and Mengal tribesmen into guerrilla warfare against the central government.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Assisted by Iran, Pakistani forces inflicted heavy casualties on the separatists. The insurgency fell into decline after a return to the four-province structure and the abolishment of the Sardari system.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: In early 2005, the rape of a female doctor (Shazia Khalid) at the Sui gas facility re-ignited the conflict. Her case and the unusual comment by then Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf about the controversy, stating on national television that the accused rapist, an officer identified only as Captain Hammad, was "not guilty", led to a violent uprising by the Bugti tribe, disrupting the supply of gas to much of the country for several weeks. In 2005, the Baluch political leaders Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and Mir Balach Marri presented a 15-point agenda to the Pakistan government. Their stated demands included greater control of the province's resources and a moratorium on the construction of military bases. On 15 December 2005 the inspector general of the Frontier Corps, Major General Shujaat Zamir Dar, and his deputy Brigadier Salim Nawaz (the current IGFC) were wounded after shots were fired at their helicopter in Balochistan Province. The provincial interior secretary later said that, after visiting Kohlu, "both of them were wounded in the leg but both are in stable condition."


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: However, a 2006 cable from the Embassy of the United States, Islamabad leaked by WikiLeaks noted that,“There seems to be little support in the province, beyond the Bugti tribe, for the current insurgency.”


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: In August 2006, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, 79 years old, was killed in fighting against the Pakistan Army, in which at least 60 Pakistani soldiers and 7 officers were also killed. Pakistan's government had charged him with responsibility for a series of deadly bomb blasts and a rocket attack on President Pervez Musharraf.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: In April 2009, Baloch National Movement president Ghulam Mohammed Baloch and two other nationalist leaders (Lala Munir and Sher Muhammad) were seized from a small legal office and were allegedly "handcuffed, blindfolded and hustled into a waiting pickup truck which is in still [sic] use of intelligence forces in front of their lawyer and neighboring shopkeepers." The gunmen were allegedly speaking in Persian (a national language of neighbouring Afghanistan and Iran). Five days later, on 8 April, their bullet-riddled bodies were found in a commercial area. The BLA claimed Pakistani forces were behind the killings, though international experts have deemed it odd that the Pakistani forces would be careless enough to allow the bodies to be found so easily and "light Balochistan on fire" ("Herald") if they were truly responsible. The discovery of the bodies sparked rioting and weeks of strikes, demonstrations, and civil resistance in cities and towns around Balochistan.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 12 August 2009, Khan of Kalat Mir Suleiman Dawood declared himself ruler of Balochistan and formally announced a Council for Independent Balochistan. The council's claimed domain includes Sistan and Baluchestan Province, as well as Pakistani Balochistan, but does not include Afghan Baloch regions. The council claimed the allegiance of "all separatist leaders including Nawabzada Bramdagh Bugti." Suleiman Dawood stated that the UK had a "moral responsibility to raise the issue of Balochistan's illegal occupation at international level."


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: In the aftermath of Akbar Bugti's killing support for the insurgency surged, with a large amount of support coming from Balochistan's burgeoning middle class. US-based exiled Baloch journalist and newspaper editor Malik Siraj Akbar writes that the ongoing Baloch resistance has created "serious challenges" for the Pakistan government, "unlike the past resistance movements", because it has lasted longer than previous insurgencies, has greater breadth—including the entire province "from rural mountainous regions to the city centers", involves Baloch women and children at "regular protest rallies", and has drawn more international attention—including a 2012 hearing by the US Congress. Islamabad has accused its neighbour India of supporting the insurgency in Balochistan. However infighting between insurgent groups as of late 2014 has weakened the movement. On 23 November Chinese Consulate was attacked by BLA fighters.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: As of 2018, the Pakistani state was using Islamist militants to defeat Balochi separatists. Academics and journalists in the United States have been approached by Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence spies, who threatened them not to speak about the insurgency in Balochistan, as well as human rights abuses by the Pakistani Army or else their family would be harmed.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 16 February 2019, armed men killed two Frontier Corps in Loralai. On 17 February 2019, another attack took place on Pakistani security personnel in which four members of the Frontier Corps were killed in the Gardab area of Panjgur District.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 15 October 2020, at least 14 security personnel were killed in the first incident after a convoy of state-run Oil & Gas Development Company (OGDCL) was attacked on the coastal highway in Balochistan's Ormara, Radio Pakistan reported.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 27 December 2020, seven soldiers were killed in a gun attack on a Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan post in Harnai district.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Through 2020, Pakistan recorded 506 fatalities (69 civilians, 178 SF personnel, and 159 militants), of which Balochistan alone accounted for 215 fatalities (84 civilians, 94 SF personnel, and 37 militants). The Province was a close second only to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which recorded 216 fatalities (61 civilians, 57 SF personnel, and 98 militants).


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 2 January 2021, 11 miners from Pakistan's minority Shi’ite Hazaras were killed in Balochistan, Pakistan. The Islamic State claimed responsibility.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 22 January 2021, four members of Sibi Scouts, a wing of the Frontier Corps North Wing, were killed and five others injured when their vehicle hit a landmine in Sangaan area of Sibi district of Balochistan.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 21 April 2021, TTP militants claimed responsibility for a car bombing in the parking lot of the Serena Hotel in Quetta, killing at least four people and wounding 12 others.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 6 May 2021, at least four personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC) were killed while six others were injured in a terrorist attack in Balochistan's Zhob District.The soldiers were working on fencing along the border in Zhob District, an area of Pakistan's Balochistan province. Zhob sits across from Afghanistan's eastern Paktika Province.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 9 May 2021, three soldiers of the Frontier Corps were killed by an attack by a rebel group on them in Margret, Quetta.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 22 May 2021, at least six people were killed and 14 others injured in a bombing in Chaman, Balochistan. The explosion took place during a Palestine solidarity rally in support of Palestine in the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis. The rally was organised by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam - Nazaryati (JUI) in Chaman's Murghi Bazaar.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 31 May 2021, four Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were killed and eight others wounded in two separate terrorist attacks in Quetta and Turbat.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 9 June 2021, BLA accepted responsibility for an attack on a Pakistani army camp in the Karakdan area of Bolan Pass, in which two personnel were killed and two others were critically wounded.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 14 June 2021, a powerful bomb targeting government soldiers exploded at a coal mine in southwest Pakistan, killing four soldiers. The attack happened at Marget Mines, about 75 kilometers (45 miles) east of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 17 June 2021, Pakistan Army soldier was killed in a terrorist attack near Turbat airport, according to a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 25 June 2021, five soldiers from Frontier Corps, Balochistan, were killed after terrorists targeted a patrolling party in Sibi district's Sangan area.The five killed soldiers were identified as Havildar Zafar Ali Khan, Lance Naik Hidayatullah, Lance Naik Nasir Abbas, Lance Naik Basheer Ahmed and Sepoy Noorullah.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 28 June 2021, a soldier of the Frontier Corps (FC) was killed in a terrorist attack on a water tanker in Balochistan.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Sepoy Kifaitullah, a resident of Sibi, was killed when terrorists through a pressurised improvised explosive device on motorway M-8 near Shapak, district Hoshab, attacked the water tanker, according to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 1 July 2021, an explosion took place near a moving Frontier Corps (FC) vehicle. At least six people were injured in a blast on Quetta's Airport Road.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 15 July 2021, two soldiers were killed in an IED blast during an operation against terrorists in Pasni, Balochistan. The two killed soldiers were identified as Captain named Affan Masood Khan and Sepoy Babar Zaman.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 8 August 2021, at least two policemen were slain and 12 others injured in an explosion near Quetta's Serena Hotel.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 14 August 2021, a paramilitary soldier was killed while two others were injured in an attack on a Frontier Corps (FC) vehicle near Loralai, Balochistan.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 20 August 2021, a suicide bomber blew himself close to a vehicle carrying Chinese engineers, killing two children in the vicinity and injuring three others including a Chinese engineers. BLA took responsibility for the suicide attack.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 22 August 2021, a Pakistan Army captain Kashif was killed while two other soldiers were injured during an IED attack. A security forces vehicle struck an IED planted by terrorists in Tobo, Gichik, Balochistan.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 26 August 2021, at least three personnel of the Levies Force were killed and an FC patrolling party was attack while in another incident in the same area, another FC checkpost was attacked, killing one personnel.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 5 September 2021, at least four people were killed and 20 injured in a suicide attack near a Frontier Corps (FC) checkpost on Mastung Road in Quetta. The banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 11 September 2021, two soldiers of Frontier Corps South were killed and another was injured when armed men attacked their convoy in the Buleda area of Kech district.The martyred soldiers were identified as Lance Naik Saboor and Sepoy Abdul Hakim.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 24 September 2021, two security personnel were killed and five others injured in an attack in Awaran district.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 25 September 2021, four security personnel were killed and two others injured in a bomb attack on a vehicle of the Frontier Corps in the Khosat area of Harnai district.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: The banned Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack.The killed were identified as Hussain Rehmat, Muhammad Saleem, Majid Fareed and Zakir. The injured were Captain Owais and Lieutenant Luqman.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 26 September 2021, a Frontier Corps soldier was killed and two others injured after terrorists attacked a check post in the province's Machh area. During the exchange of fire, a soldier — Sepoy Irfan — was killed while two others were injured.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 26 September 2021, a statue of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah was destroyed in a bomb attack. The banned Baloch Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the bombing.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 11 October 2021, Shahid Zehri 35-year-old Pakistani journalist was killed in an attack claimed to have been carried out by the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) in the country's restive Balochistan province.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 18 October 2021, at least one police official was killed and 13 others were injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack on a police vehicle parked at the gate of Balochistan University in Quetta.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 20 October 2021, a Pakistan Army's soldier was killed after security forces were fired upon in Kech district of the Balochistan province.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 13 November 2021, two soldiers were killed during an exchange of fire with terrorists in an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Balochistan's Hoshab area, according to a statement from the military's media wing,In another related incident, Sepoy lnamullah, a resident of district Lakki Marwat, was killed while clearing an improvised explosive device planted by terrorists along a route frequented by civilians.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 21 November 2021, three coal miners were shot dead by unidentified armed men in the Zalawan area in Harnai.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 22 November 2021, a soldier of Pakistan was killed when a vehicle of security forces was targeted by the terrorists near the Pakistan-Iran border in Balochistan, the military said.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 25 November 2021, two security personnel were killed in an attack and one in a landmine blast in Makran and Sibi areas of Balochistan.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 14 December 2021, a soldier was killed in a check post attack along the Iran border in Balochistan, an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 18 December 2021, a person was killed and 10 others injured in a blast that took place on Quetta city's Shahrah-e-Iqbal.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 24 December 2021, two soldiers were killed when terrorists attacked a security forces' check post in Balochistan's Kech district, the military's media affairs wing.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Lance Naik Manzar Abbas, resident of district Khushab, and Sepoy Abdul Fath, who hailed from Khuzdar, were killed during the exchange of fire with the terrorists.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 29 December 2021, unidentified gunmen on Wednesday opened fire on Anti-Narcotics Force(ANF) personnel in Turbat area of Balochistan, resulting in the martyrdom of one and injury to another.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 30 December 2021, a bomb exploded in Quetta city, killing at least four people and injuring 15 more. The bomb went off hidden beside a car parked near Science College on Jinnah Road.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: According to the PIPS report, Balochistan is the second most affected province by Pakistan in 2021. The report said that 136 people were killed in 81 terrorist attacks in Balochistan last year, which were carried out by religious militants and Baloch nationalist organizations.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Of the 81 terrorist attacks in the province in 2021, 71 were carried out by banned nationalist organizations such as the Baloch Liberation Army, Balochistan Liberation Front, Baloch Republican Army and Baloch Republican Guards. According to the PIPS report, 95 people were killed in attacks by nationalist organizations. In addition, 14 people were killed in five terrorist incidents in Punjab and 13 in six terrorist incidents in Sindh.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 18 January 2022, at least five people were injured on Tuesday when an improvised explosive device (IED) planted near a railway track in the Mashkaf area of Balochistan's Bolan district.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 20 January 2022, at least three people were killed and over 20 others injured by a bombing in Anarkali Bazaar, Lahore. Spokesperson of the Baloch Nationalist Army, claimed responsibility for this attack and said that it targeted bank employees.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 25 January 2022, militants stormed a check post belonging to Pakistani military in the Sabdan area of Dasht, Kech District in Balochistan killing at least 10 security personnel and injuring 3 others. The clash lasted for five hours in which militants also suffered several casualties. The militants also seized weapons that were present in the check post.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 28 January 2022, at least four people were killed and 10 others were injured in a blast in Mat area of Sui in Balochistan's Dera Bugti district. Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) leader Sarfraz Bugti claimed that "Baloch Republican Army terrorists" were behind the attack.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 30 January 2022, 17 people, including two policemen, were injured in a grenade attack in Dera Allahyar town of Jaffarabad district.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: In January 2022, militants carried out six attacks in which 17 people were killed, most of whom were security forces (14 security forces; 3 civilians), and 32 people were injured, most of whom were civilians (26 civilians; 6 security forces).


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 2 February 2022, 9 militants and 12 soldiers were killed at Panjgur and Nushki districts of Pakistan's Balochistan province after forces responded to their attack. The Balochistan Liberation Army, claimed to have killed more than 100 soldiers at two military camps, claims rejected by Pakistan government.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 4 February 2022, at Chaman, a town bordering Afghanistan at least six people were injured in a grenade attack at para-military post.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 8 February 2022, a blast in Balochistan's Dera Murad Jamali town has killed one person and injured another two. A man identified as Dildar Ali was killed and two were injured.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 2 March 2022, a massive explosion took place at Fatima Jinnah Road in Quetta killing three people including a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and wounding 25 others including two police personnel.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 8 March 2022, at least seven security personnel were killed in an explosion in Sibi, several minutes after President Arif Alvi addressed a colourful concluding ceremony of the Sibi Mela at a venue.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: on 15 March 2022, at least four soldiers of the Frontier Corps (FC) were killed and six were seriously injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded near a security forces' convoy in the area of Sangan in Sibi, Balochistan.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: In 1928, the new Pahlavī government of Iran was sufficiently well established to turn its attention to Baluchistan. Dost Mohammad Khan Baloch refused to submit, trusting in the network of alliances he had built up over the whole of the province south of the Sarḥadd. However, as soon as Reżā Shah's army under General Amīr Amanullah Jahanbani arrived in the area, the alliances dissolved. Dūst-Moḥammad Khan was left with a relatively small force and few allies of any consequence. The Persian army had little difficulty in defeating him. Once again Baluch political unity proved highly brittle. Dūst-Moḥammad eventually surrendered and was pardoned on condition he live in Tehran. After a year, he escaped while on a hunting trip. In due course, he was recaptured, and having killed his guard in the escape was hanged for murder. Baloch activists complained that the new governance was centralised and dominated by the Persians, "forcing the Baloch community and other minorities to fight to protect their rights."


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Baloch people in Iran have several grievances. The Shi'ite Islamic revolution perceived the predominantly Sunni Baloch as a "threat". Sistan-e-Balochistan, the province where Baloch have traditionally lived in Iran, has the country's worst rates for life expectancy, adult literacy, primary school enrolment, access to improved water sources and sanitation, infant mortality rate, of any province in Iran. Despite its important natural resources (gas, gold, copper, oil and uranium), the province has the lowest per capita income in Iran. Almost 80% of the Baloch live under the poverty line.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: In the early 2000s the radical Islamist group Jundallah became active in Balochistan. The al Qaeda-linked extremist organisation has branches in both Iran and Pakistan. From 2003 to 2012, an estimated 296 people were killed in Jundullah-related violence in Iran. Attacks in Iran included bombings in Zahedan in 2007, which killed 18 people, and another bombing in 2009 that killed 20 people. In 2009, 43 people were killed in a bombing in Pishin.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: In July 2010, 27 people were killed in bombings in Zahedan. In 2010, a suicide bombing in Chabahar killed 38 people.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Among the deaths in the Pishin bombings were two Iranian Revolutionary Guards generals: Noor Ali Shooshtari, the deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards' ground forces, and Rajab Ali Mhammadzadeh, the Revolutionary Guards' Sistan and Baluchistan provincial commander.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: In 2010 the leader of Jundallah, Abdolmalek Rigi, was killed, causing fragmentation of the group but not an end to insurgent attacks. In October 2013, the group "Jaish al-Adl" (JAA, Army of Justice), killed 14 Iranian border guards in an ambush in the town of Rustak, near the town of Saravan. Shortly thereafter, the Iranian authorities executed 16 Balochs, on charges ranging from terrorism to drug trafficking. Another group, "Harakat Ansar Iran" (Partisan Movement of Iran, HAI) killed two Basij officers and wounded numerous civilians in an October 2012 suicide bombing against the mosque of Imam Hussein, in the port city of Chabahar (Sistan and Baluchestan Province).


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: According to analyst Daniele Grassi, "Salafism plays an increasingly central role" for the "post-Jundallah" militants of JAA and HAI. "The rhetoric of groups such as HAI and JAA uses strongly anti-Shia tones. The two groups often refer to the Iranian Islamic Republic as a Safavid regime, in reference to the Safavid dynasty which introduced Shiism in Iran." Iran is also concerned about anti-Shia co-operation between the two groups and ISIS.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Iran has accused America of supporting Jundallah "for years". The US government, which has officially designated Jundallah a terrorist organisation, has denied this charge. Iran has been angered by JAA's use of Pakistani territory as a refuge, and has threatened military operations in Pakistan to counter insurgent groups "on several occasions".


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: In Balochistan, Pakistan, "drivers" of insurgency have been economic, cultural, involving immigration and human rights.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Economic inequality, and Balochistan's status as a "neglected province where a majority of population lacks amenities" is a dimension in the conflict. Since the mid-1970s Balochistan's share of Pakistan's GDP has dropped from 4.9 to 3.7%. Balochistan has the highest infant and maternal mortality rate, the highest poverty rate, and the lowest literacy rate in Pakistan.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On the other hand, according to a report published in the Pakistani English-language "Dawn" newspaper, members of Balochistan's elite society, including provincial government ministers and officials, own "pieces of land greater in size than some small towns of the country", and had luxury vehicles, properties, investments and businesses valued at millions of rupees.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Balochistan receives less per/unit in royalties than Sindh and Punjab provinces, since Balochistan's wellhead price five times lower than in Sindh and Punjab (the gas wellhead price is based on per capita provincial income in 1953). Furthermore, the government has returned little of the royalties owed to the province, citing the need to recover operating costs. Consequently, Balochistan is heavily in debt.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Balochistan Province receives Rs 32.71 per unit on gas revenues, including a royalty of Rs 13.90, excise duty of Rs 5.09, and gas development surcharge of Rs 13.72. Many private individuals with gas deposits on their land also receive payments. Many Balochs argue that such royalties are too low. In response, in 2011 Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani announced an addition of Rs. 120 billion (US$2.5 billion) to the gas development surcharge and royalty portion of the "Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan" package. However, royalties often do not trickle down to the common people in Balochistan due to the corruption and wealth-hoarding of Baloch tribal chiefs. This has hindered the growth of infrastructure.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Extensive road and rail links developed by British colonialists in northern parts of Balochistan province have brought greater economic development to areas mainly inhabited by ethnic Pashtuns, which has also heightened nationalism among ethnic Balochs within the province.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Purchased by the government of Pakistan from Oman in 1958, the construction of the megaport of Gwadar beginning in 2002 became another source of grievances. Baloch complain that construction of the port relies on Chinese engineers and labourers, and few Balochs have been employed. A parallel town for workers at Gwadar is being built close to the old one to segregate Balochs from the growing influx of outsiders.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Due to the historical shortage of skilled labour in Balochistan, skilled workers are often imported from other regions. Their arrival means new industries can develop, boosting the local economy; however, nationalists argue that this creates resentment amongst the local inhabitants.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: After the Soviet invasion, around 4 million refugees from Afghanistan arrived and settled in the region which has resulted in substantial demographic imbalance. Perceived marginalisation as a result of increased Pashtun migration from Afghanistan during the Afghan War drives the insurgency.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: A major factor in the Balouchistan conflict is education, which nationalists feel has been neglected. The government of Pakistan recognises that importing skilled labour from other regions has caused tensions in the region, and has thus sought to encourage scholarships for Balochi students so they can participate in development programmes. The quota for Baloch students in Punjab university was doubled in 2010 under the Cheema Long Scheme, on the order of CM Shabaz Sharif. The provincial governments of Sindh, Punjab and KP said they would take steps to encourage Balochistan students to enroll and benefit from 100% scholarships. However, nationalists argue that not enough education development is taking place, and that the government has neglected its duty.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Many Balochis have not tended to look favourably on Pakistan and the army's intervention in politics as they see the military as dominated by Punjabis and the interests of the Punjabis (who make up 45% of Pakistan's population) and lacking Baloch representation.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: In the insurgencies themselves, the military's "harsh response" has led to "a spiral of violence". (See Human Rights Issues below.) A report by the Pakistan Security Research Unit notes, "Islamabad's militarized approach has led to ... violence, widespread human rights abuses, mass internal displacement and the deaths of hundreds of civilians and armed personnel."


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: According to the International Crisis Group the attempt to crush the insurgency as in earlier insurgencies is feeding Baloch disaffection.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Moderate Balochs have been alienated from the government by the imprisonment of civilians without charges, and routine kidnapping of dissidents.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Afghanistan has provided sanctuary and training to Baloch separatists in 1948, in the mid-1950s, and more vigorously under the regime of Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan. In the 1970s, Daoud Khan's government established training camps in Afghanistan, at Kabul and Kandahar, for Baloch rebels. These were the first modern training camps in the country. The camps in Kabul were under the supervision and control of Republican guards.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: The former Pakistani ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani, wrote that in the 1970s training camps were set up in Afghanistan by Daoud to support Baloch separatists in Pakistan. According to a student paper, "Pakistan's fear that a communist Afghanistan would embolden the Baloch and Pashtun Marxist separatists in the western Pakistani province of Balochistan was confirmed when Daoud began supporting Marxist Baloch and Pashtun groups in eastern Afghanistan".


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Daoud Khan ended hostilities against Pakistan following a 1975 Panjshir uprising led by Ahmad Shah Massoud against Khan's government. Visiting Pakistan in 1976, and again in 1978, Daoud Khan expressed his desire for peace between the two countries. In 1978, however, he was removed from office by a communist coup in Afghanistan, after which Nur Muhammad Taraki seized power and established the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Nur Muhammad Taraki reopened the Baloch training camps in Afghanistan and once again started offering arms and aid to Baloch rebels.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: According to WikiLeaks cables published in 2010, the then-president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, had been providing shelter to Brahumdagh Bugti for several years. Brahumdagh Bugti, along with some 20 separatists, had fled to Afghanistan in 2006, and his presence in Afghanistan had created tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan. In 2007 Pakistan's president, Pervaiz Musharraf, stated that Bugti was freely traveling between Kabul and Kandahar, raising money and planning attacks against Pakistani security forces. Musharraf repeatedly asked Hamid Karzai to hand over Bugti, which Karzai refused to do. In public, Afghan officials denied providing shelter to Bugti, but later, following a 2009 meeting between UN officials and Karzai, admitted that Bugti was indeed living in Kabul. While speaking to "The Guardian", Bugti admitted that he was leading the fight against Pakistan's army. In 2010 he travelled to Switzerland and took up residence there. In 2017, his request for political asylum was rejected by Swiss authorities on the grounds that he had been linked to "incidents of terrorism, violence and militant activities".


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: The Chief of Frontier Corps troops in Balochistan, Major General Obaidullah Khan Khattak, said in June 2012 that "over 30 militant camps" had been established in Afghanistan. The camps receive support from Afghanistan and are used "to launch terrorist and anti-state activities in Balochistan". Malik Siraj Akbar, a Washington-based analyst, states that Afghanistan has always been a relatively safe hideout for the Baloch nationalist militants.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 25 December 2018, Aslam Baloch, alias Achu, and six other Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) commanders were killed in a suicide attack in Kandahar, Afghanistan. A BLA spokesman confirmed their deaths. Afghan officials stated that General Abdul Raziq Achakzai had housed Aslam Baloch and other separatist in Kandahar for years. Moreover, the Afghan news channel TOLOnews reported that Aslam Baloch had been residing in Afghanistan since 2005. According to Kandahar police chief Tadin Khan Achakzai, Aslam Baloch and Abdul Raziq Achakzai were 'close friends' and that 'Afghans will continue supporting separatist groups in their fight against the government of Pakistan'.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 23 May 2019, a similar attack took place in Aino Mina, Kandahar. Laghari Bugti and three other Baloch insurgents were killed, while a further twelve were injured. Afghan provincial council member Yousaf Younasi . said it was the second attack on Baloch Liberation Army members in recent years in Kandahar's posh Aino Mina residential area, and that Aslam Baloch, alias Achu, had been killed in the same area. Baloch separatist leader Sher Muhammad Bugti confirmed that the attack had taken place, but said that target of the attack was a senior separatist leader, Shah Wali Bugti. He said that 'Baloch separatist are not safe in Kandahar and they have come under attack in three places over the past few months'. Kandahar Police Chief Tadin Khan stated that the attack in Aino Mena took place outside the house of a former National Directorate of Security (NDS) official.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Avinash Paliwal claims that in the 1970s, Junior level Indian intelligence officers were actively involved in operations in Balochistan. In a book he authored, Paliwal says these officers claim that "we gave Baloch everything, from money to guns, during the 1970s, everything". He further states that, like Pakistan and India, Iraq and Iran were bitter rivals. As a result, Pakistan and Iran had developed closer relations with each other, while India and Iraq did likewise. Arming Baloch insurgents in Iran and Pakistan was in the interest of both Iraq and India. Militant groups like Pasthun Zalmay, which were made up of Baloch and Pashtun militants, were in direct contact with Kabul as well as with Indian and Iraqi missions in Afghanistan. Pashtun Zalmay was responsible for a series of bomb blasts and other insurgent activities in Pakistan. As a consequence, relations between Iran and India deteriorated so much that in 1975, Indian diplomat Ram D. Sathe sent a secret letter to


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: the Indian ambassador in Tehran in which he claimed that "it will be [only] a few more days before Iranians will stridently back Pakistanis (on Kashmir) ... Personally I do not think we should be under any illusion about this matter. I think Iranians will definitely back the Pakistanis".


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Later on, in 2008, Paliwal claimed that if there had ever been an India-Afghanistan axis on Balochistan, it would likely have been in full play during this period. Afghan intelligence chief Amarullah Saleh and Indian diplomat Mayankote Kelath Narayanan were closely engaged with Baloch militants. Paliwal claims that even if Indian intelligence agencies denied direct support to Baloch insurgents, it was unlikely that they would have remained aloof from unfolding dynamics. Atul Khare, who observed these events on a regular basis, confirmed that India had contacts with Baloch militants. India had given (limited) protection to sons and grandsons of Baloch leaders, as well as Akbar Bugti. However, Khare claims that India did not help Akbar Bugti when he was killed during the fight with the Pakistan Army. In January 2009, Baloch militants continued their attacks against Pakistan. Both Pakistan and the United Kingdom believed that India was providing support to the Baloch militants.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: The Indian newspaper "The Hindu" reported that Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) commanders had, in the past, sought medical treatment in India's hospitals, often in disguise or with fake identities. In one such case, a militant commander in charge of Khuzdar city was based in Delhi for at least six months in 2017 while he underwent extensive treatment for kidney-related ailments. Baloch militants' visits to India were often under assumed identities. Similarly, another Baloch Liberation Army commander, Aslam Baloch (alias Achu), was also alleged to have visited India, where he met with people who were sympathetic to the Balochi cause. Aslam Baloch was also alleged to have been treated at a hospital in New Delhi. Jitendranand Saraswati, the founder of the Hind Baloch forum, claimed that Indians were actively contributing to the "freedom struggle of Balochistan".


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: According to Malik Siraj Akbar, a Baloch journalist living in exile, there is a consensus among Pakistani authorities that India is behind the insurgency in Balochistan, without feeling a need to share evidence of Indian involvement. Pakistan has repeatedly accused India of supporting Baloch rebels, starting with an attack in Gwadar in 2004 in which three Chinese engineers were killed. Wright-Neville writes that the Pakistani government and some Western observers believe that India secretly funds the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: The former American Af-Pak envoy Richard Holbrooke said in 2011 that while Pakistan had repeatedly shared its allegations with Washington, it had failed to provide any evidence to the United States that India was involved with separatist movements in Balochistan. He did not consider Pakistan's accusations against India credible. Holbrooke also strongly rejected the allegation that India was using its consulates in Afghanistan to facilitate Baloch rebel activity, saying he had "no reason to believe Islamabad's charges", and that "Pakistan would do well to examine its own internal problems". In 2009, a Washington-based think tank, the Center for International Policy, published a report stating that no evidence of Indian involvement in Balochistan had been provided by Pakistan, and that the allegations made by Pakistan lacked credibility, as Baloch rebels had been fighting with "ineffectual small arms".


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Brahamdagh Bugti stated in a 2008 interview that he would accept aid from India, Afghanistan, and Iran in defending Balochistan. When asked about the alleged links between his group and India, he is reported to have laughed and said, "Would our people live amid such miserable conditions if we enjoyed support from India?" Baloch National Front secretary Karima Baloch claims that the allegations against India are an "excuse to label [the] ingrown Balochistan freedom movement as a proxy war to cover up the war crimes [the] Pakistani state has committed in Balochistan".


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 29 March 2016, the Pakistani government announced that it had apprehended a serving Indian naval officer, Kulbhushan Yadav, who, in a video interview, admitted that he had been tasked by the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) with destabilizing Pakistan. The Indian government confirmed that Yadav was a former naval officer but denied that "this individual was involved in subversive activities in Pakistan at our [the Indian government's] behest", and asserted that he operated "a legitimate business in Iran", from where he may have been "abducted" by Pakistan or, alternatively, by the extremist militant organization Jaishul Adil.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: In 2016, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized Pakistan and alleged human rights issues in Balochistan during an Independence Day speech. Pakistan condemned Modi's remarks, calling it an attempted diversion from violence in Kashmir and a reiteration of Pakistani allegations vis-a-vis Indian involvement in Balochistan. Modi's comments were welcomed by exiled Baloch separatist leaders but sparked anti-India protests by political organizations and locals in Balochistan.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 8 October 2015, the Indian newspaper "The Hindu" confirmed the presence of Balaach Pardili, a representative of the Balochistan Liberation Organisation (BLO), in India. Balaach Pardili hails from Afghanistan and has been living in Delhi since 2009. Hyrbyair Marri, leader of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), had assigned Pardili the task of representing him in public events in India. Mr. Pardili appeared in public on 4 October 2015, under the banner of Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena (BSKS). His presence in India angered Pakistan. A Pakistani diplomat stated that in response to Pardili's presence in India, Pakistan could take up the issue in India's troubled North-Eastern region.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Naela Quadri Baloch and her son Mazdak Dilshad Baloch also live in India. Mazdak Dilshad Baloch organizes campaigns in India to support the Baloch cause, while his mother, Naela Quadri Baloch, is trying to gain support for the establishment of a Baloch Government-in-exile in India. However, Naela Quadri Baloch's proposal for a Government-in-exile has been strongly opposed by other Baloch separatist leaders, such as Brahamdagh Bugti, who claim that Naela Quadri does not represent the Baloch people.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 7 May 2020, a retired Indian Army Major speaking on live television threatened to harm Pakistani soldiers in Balochistan.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: On 10 February 1973, Pakistani police and paramilitary raided the Iraqi embassy in Islamabad, seizing a large cache of small arms, ammunition, grenades and other supplies, which were found in crates marked 'Foreign Ministry, Baghdad'. The ammunition and weaponry was believed to be destined for Baloch rebels. Pakistan responded by expelling and declaring persona non grata the Iraqi Ambassador Hikmat Sulaiman and other consular staff. In a letter to U.S. President Nixon on 14 February, Bhutto blamed India and Afghanistan, along with Iraq and the Soviet Union, for involvement in a "conspiracy ... [with] subversive and irredentist elements which seek to disrupt Pakistan's integrity."


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: According to author Mark Perry, CIA memos revealed that in 2007 and 2008 Israeli agents posed as American spies and recruited Pakistani citizens to work for Jundallah (BLA affiliate) and carried out false flag operations against Iran.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: The Baloch Society of North America (BSO-NA) was a Baloch lobbying group founded in 2004 in Washington, D.C. by Dr. Wahid Baloch, a graduate of Bolan Medical College who had gone into self-imposed exile in the United States in 1992. Between 2004 and 2014, his group had been trying to gain American (as well as Israeli) support for the independence of Balochistan. He held meetings with several American Congressmen and allegedly had meetings with several CIA officials. Dr. Baloch had long claimed that the Pakistani government was committing acts of genocide against the Baloch people, and that Islamabad's aim was to plunder the province's vast mineral resources. In January 2014 he released a letter appealing to the United States and Israel for direct assistance in preventing an alleged "killing spree of Baloch people" by the "Pakistani army".


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: In May 2014, Dr. Baloch disbanded the BSO-NA, claiming that the War of Independence of Balochistan was actually a "war of independence of Khans, Nawabs and Sardars". He has since formed the Baloch Council of North America (BCN), which has dedicated itself to working with all democratic and nationalist forces in Pakistan to secure Baloch rights through democratic, nonviolent means, within the federation of Pakistan.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Pakistani scholar Syed F. Hasnat alleged that during the Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989), the Soviet Union helped establish the Balochistan Liberation Army which chiefly operates from southern Afghanistan.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: The US State Department's official policy rejects secessionist forces in the Pakistani part of Balochistan, in support of the country's "unity and territorial integrity". The US has, however, expressed concerns over human rights issues and urged parties in Pakistan to "work out their differences peaceably and through a valid political process." In February 2010 a Jundullah leader captured by Iran, Abdulmalek Rigi, alleged on Iranian TV "that the US had promised to provide" Jundullah "with military equipment and a base in Afghanistan, near the Iranian border" for its fight against Iran. Rigi did not mention assistance in fighting Pakistan (which Iran accuses of backing the Jundullah, according to the BBC). The US has denied links with Jundullah, and according to the BBC, "it is not possible" to determine whether Abdolmalek Rigi "made the statement freely or under duress."


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: In late 2011, the Balochistan conflict became the focus of dialogue on a new US South Asia strategy brought up by some US congressmen, who said they were frustrated over Pakistan's alleged continued support to the Afghan Taliban, which they said led to the continuation of the War in Afghanistan. Although this alternative to the Obama Administration's Af-Pak policy has generated some interest, "its advocates clearly do not yet have broad support".


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: In the 1980s the CIA, the Iraqi Intelligence Service, Pakistani Sunni extremist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, and the Mujahedin e-Kalq supported a Baluchi tribal uprising against Iran. A February 2011 article by Selig S. Harrison of the Center for International Policy called for supporting "anti-Islamist forces" along the southern Arabian Sea coast, including "Baluch insurgents fighting for independence from Pakistan", as a means of weakening the "rising tide of anti-American passion" in Pakistan and heading off any alliance between Islamabad and Beijing – Pakistan having granted China access to a naval base at Gwadar.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: United States of America has also designated Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) as a global terrorist organization on 2 July 2019.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: The separatist insurgency peaked after the death of nationalist leader Akbar Bugti in 2006. However, since 2013, the strength and intensity of insurgency has gradually declined. 2013 Elections resulted in the formation of coalition among Baloch and Pashtun ethno-nationalist political parties and they ruled the province for the next four years. The decline of Marxist ideology is also one of the factors which limit the scope of the nationalist insurgency. The separatist groups follow Marxism. However, the ideology itself has died across the world. Hence, the founding fathers of the Baloch revolution are dead and there are no ideologies to succeed them. Similarly, disagreement which most of the time lead to clashes among the separatist groups and attacks on pro-government leaders and politicians who are willing to take part in election has also contributed to the decline in separatist appeal. Another factor which limits the scope of nationalist insurgency is the infighting among the separatist groups. Separatists have also been fighting among themselves. On 30 June 2015, Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) clashed with United Baloch Army (UBA), which resulted in death of twenty separatist on both sides. Previously, BLA had attacked and captured one of the commander of UBA and killed four other members of UBA.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Moreover, the separatists have been losing ranks. Though the exact strength of Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) is not known, analyst believe that BLA now only has several hundred fighters based out of Afghanistan Balochistan borderland. The group is the only one to survive out of other separatist groups (UBA, BLF, BLUF and LeB) who once operated in the region.


title: Insurgency in Balochistan

text: Furthermore, Baloch separatist themselves stand accused of rights abuses. Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a 40-page report which criticised Baloch nationalists of killing, threatening and harassing teachers. Human Right Watch (HRW) has also held separatist responsible for attacks on schools across the province. Another factor which limits the scope of nationalist insurgency is the lack of support from locals as majority of locals don't support separatist groups. Locals support political parties who use legislature to address their grievances.