The snow-balling insurgency and acts of terrorism in Balochistan are the subject of debate in the media, in political circles and among the intelligentsia. The perturbing aspect of the discussion is that all these circles seem to have bought the narrative of the Nawabs and Sardars of Balochistan that the successive federal governments were responsible for what was happening in the province; a situation created by their indifference to the development of the province that led to the emergence of a sense of deprivation among the Baloch population. This has been the root cause of insurgencies in the province. The solution is invariably suggested in dialogue with all the stakeholders to ease the situation. I am afraid that all those who subscribe to the foregoing narrative are not aware of the history of insurgencies in Balochistan and the real cause for the province lagging behind in development. Their focus unfortunately is more on grilling the federal government for its inability to restore normalcy in the province rather than on unraveling the nature and context of the insurgency, acknowledging the harsh ground realities, confronting the villains and utilizing collective wisdom to find a way to winch the country out of this quagmire. Let me at the outset emphasize that non-development and the much trumpeted sense of deprivation in Balochistan are not the root causes of insurgencies in Balochistan. They are misconceived notions. The rulers of states in Balochistan, Sardars and Nawabs as well as some foreign powers are the ones who fomented insurgencies in the province right from the beginning. The Sardar and Nawabs with a view to keep their hold on the people opposed any development in their areas and at the same time kept telling the people that the federal governments were responsible for all their miseries. It was possible because greater part of the Baloch territory remained as B area where these Sardars and Nawabs were unquestioned masters of their tribes and there was no proper administration there. Very few people know that 14 of the 18 Chief Ministers of Balochistan since 1972 were tribal Sardars. It is a recorded history that when Khan Kalat decided to join Pakistan, his brother Abdul Karim Khan who was governor of Mekran, revolted on the night of 16 May 1948 and launched a separatist movement. He based himself in Afghanistan and conducted guerilla war against Pakistan Army with support from the Afghan government but could not succeed in his designs. The second wave of insurgency surfaced during 1958-59 when Nawab Nowroz Khan led an armed rebellion against the government decision to form one unit. The province witnessed another militant campaign between 1963-69 led by Sher Muhammad Bijrani Marri in the tribal areas of Marri and Bugti in the North and Mengal tribal belt in the South. They bombed railway tracks and ambushed convoys. The Army finally succeeded in subduing the separatists who agreed on a ceasefire in 1969. Although the separatist had agreed to ceasefire and the province apparently returned to normalcy but the leaders of the separatist movement remained active behind the scenes to prepare for a bigger conflict with help from Iraq and former Soviet Union who were trying to destabilize both Iran and Pakistan. The plan came to the surface on February 9 1973 when Nawab Akbar Bugti tipped the Pakistani authorities about a shipment of arms from Soviet Union that had arrived in the Iraqi Embassy in Islamabad for the insurgents in Balochistan. On February 10, a raid was conducted on the Iraqi Embassy by the Special Services Groups personnel supported by FC and seized the smuggled arms. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto dismissed government of Attaullah Mengal in Balochistan after this discovery and the separatists led by Nawab Khair Bux Marri re-launched an armed insurgency which continued between1973-77 with active support of Iraq backed by the Soviet Union. The insurgency remained dormant between 1977 and 2000. This lull was actually utilized by the separatists to regroup for a bigger conflict in the future. The surfacing of Balochistan Libration Army in the summer of 2000 when it carried out a number of attacks on government installations and claimed responsibility for them signaled the re-emergence of the revolt. The acts of sabotage however gained intensity after the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in August 2006. The conflict with Bugti started in the wake of missile attack on a helicopter in the Kohlu area, in which IGFC Balochistan and his Deputy were traveling and an alleged rocket attack on President Pervez Musharraf. On August 12, 2009 Khan of Kalat Mir Sulaiman Dawood (in exile) declared himself ruler of Balochistan and formally made announcement of a Council for Independent Balochistan which also includes Brahmdagh Bugti. The Council’s declared objective is to liberate Bloch areas both in Pakistan and Iran. Since then the BLA has stepped up sabotage activities in the province by repeatedly attacking gas lines and other government installations. The kidnapping of Jaffar Express and the following events leave no doubt about foreign sponsors of BLA and Mahrang Baloch. She is actually a political face of BLA. Those who project her as a proponent of human rights are terribly wrong. If she were human rights activist she should have been in the forefront to condemn killings of Punjabis in different attacks as well as kidnapping of Jaffar Express by BLA and killing of 26 of its passengers. None of the Baloch nationalist leaders including Akhtar Mengal have ever uttered a word of condemnation over these incidents and the recent killing of eight Punjabis in Iran. The sardars and Nawabs have deliberately kept the province underdeveloped. Very few people know that out of all 18 the Chief Ministers of Balochistan since 1972, 14 were tribal Sardars. They instead of spending money on the well-being of their people purloined all the funds that were provided by successive federal governments. The province has been allocated funds as per the NFC award. The question is who stopped them from carrying out development of backward areas? As is evident from the foregoing facts, the separatist movement in Balochistan has persistently been supported by foreign powers. Initially Afghanistan, Iraq and former Soviet Union took advantage of the situation and wooed the dissenting elements to achieve their objectives in the region and now it is India which is providing support to the insurgents to destabilize Pakistan. The situation is indeed worrying to say the least but one thing that needs to be understood is that though the insurgents may be able to carry out their sabotage activities for some time to come but they are surely not in a position to create East Pakistan like situation in the province. The COAS General Asim Munir while addressing Overseas Convention was right on money to reiterate that neither the 1500 Baloch terrorists nor even their ten generations could snatch Balochistan from Pakistan. The writer is a former diplomat and freelance columnist.