Some are well-known: the Nigerian civil war, the battles that resulted in the conversion of East Pakistan into Bangladesh, and the recent
bitter clashes in the Ogaden Desert between Ethiopia and Somalia. But others seem to pass virtually unnoticed in the West, even
though-or perhaps because-their cost in lives and other human and economic resources is incalculable.
One such unnoticed crisis, whose outcome could have enormous regional and global consequences, pits the Baluch and Pushtun
tribesmen, who live in the rough borderlands of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran, against the Pakistani government. Unless that conflict
is resolved soon, it could lead to thedisintegration of Pakistan itself. This, and a chain of reaction of other events, could ultimately result
in a superpower confrontation. >> READ MORE
bitter clashes in the Ogaden Desert between Ethiopia and Somalia. But others seem to pass virtually unnoticed in the West, even
though-or perhaps because-their cost in lives and other human and economic resources is incalculable.
One such unnoticed crisis, whose outcome could have enormous regional and global consequences, pits the Baluch and Pushtun
tribesmen, who live in the rough borderlands of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran, against the Pakistani government. Unless that conflict
is resolved soon, it could lead to thedisintegration of Pakistan itself. This, and a chain of reaction of other events, could ultimately result
in a superpower confrontation. >> READ MORE
Nightmare in Balochistan: by
Selig S. Harrison
Selig S. Harrison
Many international crises of the last decade have resulted from the practice of drawning
colonial boundaries without regard to ethnic and linguistic realities. In some instances, newly
independent governments have had to fight bloody and costly wars with separatist or
irredentist movements just to hold their countries together.
