ABSTRACT
This chapter covers the longest peace interval in centre–Balochistan relations. During this phase, hardly anything changed for the Baloch masses and the province, yet it remained peaceful. There are a number of reasons for this:divisions in the political and militant leadership of the Baloch nationalist movement, two of the Baloch nationalist leaders left Balochistan and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. As it was considered a possible target of the Red Army, the Pakistan Army concentrated on Balochistan. During the second phase of the peace interval (1988–1999), Baloch leaders participated in the political activities at the national level, and a number of Baloch sardars and politicians such as Akbar Bugti, Bizenjo and Zafarullah Khan Jamali played a significant role in the Pakistani politics. The Baloch nationalist narrative is silent on these developments. Instead, it focuses on the influx of the Afghan refugees, change in population figures in Balochistan and that the centre’s continued interference in provincial matters hampered Baloch elected representatives’ performance. In this narrative, no mention is made of why, for instance, Akhtar Mengal not only continued to contest elections but became the chief minister of the province, why a number of prominent Baloch politicians were participating in politics at the national level and the absence of nationalist/insurgent violence in Balochistan.
