A Paradox of Gender, Human Security, and Insurgency in the Protracted Armed Conflict of Balochistan

Author(s) : Asmaa Elzieny, Dr. Hassan Farooq Mashwani

Abstract:

Over the last several years, the longstanding Baloch insurgency in Pakistan has seen an influx of female activists. On the one hand, women militants, like Shari Baloch, have become active participants in a series of terrorist attacks launched by insurgent groups like the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF). On the other hand, the growing number of females in organizations like the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) continues to rally in an unarmed resistance movement mobilizing mass protests for the missing persons or the enforced disappearances. However, the Pakistani government appears to be conflating the activities of these groups and advancing a particular discourse that frames women as victims of trafficking, grooming, and coercion by terrorist groups in Balochistan. This paper aims to review the gender-based aspects of the Balochistan conflict through the lens of human security and feminist security discourse to determine if such a framework can offer additional policy insights and research avenues in understanding the manifestations and motivations of female militants and those involved in non-violent protests. It will be argued that while the Pakistani government’s discourse on women trafficked and coerced into militant organizations addresses some aspects of the conflict, it may overshadow the efforts of those women who appear to be exercising their agency to further the sociopolitical and economic cause of Balochistan. Secondly, applying this discourse to an unarmed non-violent resistance movement may neglect a more significant human security issue in the region. This paper will contribute to the existing scholarship on the Baloch conflict by providing a more nuanced understanding of the gender-based aspects of the decades-long insurgency in Balochistan.