Publication

This monograph examines the Baloch separatist insurgency that has resurfaced in Pakistan’s sprawling Balochistan province. The author maintains that the context of today’s insurgency differs in certain important respects from that of its 1970s predecessor. He argues that the most fundamental of these differences are those stemming from energy resource developments in what some are calling the "Asian Middle East" (embracing parts of South, Central and Southwest Asia). In particular, the monograph looks at how Pakistan’s mounting energy insecurity - a product of rapid increase in demand coupled with rising scarcity and the region’s intensified energy rivalry - has magnified the economic and strategic importance of Balochistan, while at the same time complicating Pakistan’s efforts to cope with the province’s resurgent tribal separatism.