Pakistan and India are seemingly always at each others’ throats, and other factions in the region are only too eager to try to cash in when the going gets particularly rough. Today it was the leader of the separatist Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), Allah Baloch, who publicly said he would welcome cash and “other support” from India.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province, spanning the country’s entire west. Ethnic Baloch groups have been waging off-and-on secessionist efforts both in Pakistan, and in the neighboring Iranian province of Sistan-Balochistan, for decades.
Baloch’s comments came with him also saying he would welcome help from “the whole world,” but singling out India is likely to add to tensions between the two countries, as Pakistan has long suspected India of being secretly involved in the secessionist movements, and indeed, secretly involved in about anything that would negatively impact Pakistan.
Baloch indicated that the BLF would in particular continue to attack Chinese economic interests within Pakistan, which appears to be designed as an incentive to India, since China is siding with Pakistan in most disputes between the two countries.
fun facts: the words Baluch and Kurd were historically not specific people but a general term for nomads.