On 16 August 1946, Muhammed Ali Jinnah (Pakistan’s first Governor-General and a Muslim extremist politician) on the behalf of the All India Muslim League announced Direct Action Day. On this day riots broke out in Calcutta, lasting several days and resulting in the death of thousands of people. By March 1947, violence spread to different parts of northern India. The League did this to support the formation of Pakistan, believing that religion would unite them to form an independent country. However, in the 21^st century religion is not uniting Pakistanis, rather has become one reason why the country is crumbling politically from inside because of political, economic and religious reasons. It is supressed in such a way that many people are not able to study much deeply but some major developments in this issue leading to a wide spread of information regarding this cause like the hijacking of the Jaffar Express in Balochistan seizing 450 militants. Let us understand this issue deeply.

First, we need to know how Pakistan will be divided into different states. The Carneige Institute in the USA also has classified into these possible divisions. Pakistan is comprised of four provinces, two autonomous territories, and one federal territory. Most of them want to be integrated into another country or operate independently.

Balochistan (The largest Pakistani Province to claim independence along with an area in Iran)

Sindhudesh (Called Sindh in Pakistan to claim independence)

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa/Pashtunistan (A Pashtun populated area in North-West Pakistan to be claimed by Afghanistan {Taliban} who also wants to integrate the Pashtuns in their motherland)

Gilgit Baltistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (An area in North Pakistan wanting to join India. India also legally claims it. It is called Azad Kashmir in Pakistan)

Khalistan (Called Punjab in Pakistan to be claimed by the terrorist organisation “Khalistan”. Currently friends with Pakistani Government but if the above states claim independence, then it can demand its area while wants the same from India. Pakistan agrees but India refuses to give its land to Khalistan)

Now let us understand them in more detail:
Balochistan: – It is the largest province in Pakistan. Before we understand that why it wants independence from Pakistan and Iran, we need to understand Balochistan’s history. During WW2, in August 1941, The Soviet Union and The British Empire annexed the neutral Imperial State of Iran. The invasion of Iran/Persia occurred due to the rising power of Germany and H!tler in Europe and Africa. They thought that through Europe and Middle East, British India and Soviet Russia would be annexed. So, in order to create an extension so they can fight better against Germany and Japan. the Invasion of Iran was carried out, After the war ended, Iran was freed by both the empires, but a strange division happened. In (present day) Southern Iran and Southern Pakistan was Balochistan. A line was drawn dividing the Balochs. Iran and UK agreed upon the line, making a divide in Balochistan. This tells us that why the Baloch extremists not only claim the biggest state in Pakistan but also one of the biggest and poorest states in Iran.

The reason that Balochs want an independent country is not of ethinical reasons but also economical. Balochistan is a large province in which Natural gases, copper, coal, iron, gold etc. are found. Mining and extraction of metals and fossil fuels is done and is vital to Balochistani economy. The famous Gwadar port is also present here which is a beautiful sea port in South-West Pakistan. It is an important part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) bringing massive investment to the region. Balochistan also occupies approximately 44% of Pakistani land. This area generates a lot of revenue for the government despite economical and food crisis. However, the problem is that the money is used for either for improving the overpowered military or for the development of other the Pakistani states like Punjab. Basically, Pakistan exploits the resources and income of Balochistan but there is hardly any development in Balochistan. This has caused tensions and anger between Balochs leading to a strong rebellion against the Pakistani Government. It has been so strong that even if the Pakistani Government would try to develop Balochistan, people would think that it is an strategy of the Government leading to more rebellion. Rebellion has taken place either through peaceful protests by women or local people which have been given a radical reply by the Pakistani Government. Balochs had united to form an extremist independent army against Pakistanis called the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). They have done many operations like either killing Pakistani Police and Army officials or the recent infamous hijack of the Jaffar Express, en route from Quetta to Peshawar also termed as the Train Hijack. Pakistan doesn’t want Balochistan to be independent as not only it will lose 44% of its country land which is rich in resources but also lose access to Gwadar Port which is an important part of the CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor).Pakistan and China, both will have less access to the Indian Ocean and Pakistan will have little sea access So, Pakistan, China and Iran are doing their best to prevent Balochistan from becoming a resource rich independent country having Gwadar or Quetta as its capital city. Some Balochs also want to be a part of Pakistan since Balochistan is sparsely populated, many people are fine with the current government and prefer the Pakistani Nationalism.

Sindhudesh:-  The third largest province in Pakistan which however contributes 23% of GDP in Pakistan. It is called Sindh in Pakistan. The people of Sindh want independence from Pakistan because the highest number of minority communities and religions reside here. They are not given proper representation in Pakistani politics, Parliament etc. The reason behind this behaviour of the Pakistani Government is due to the principles of the Pakistani Government. They see the followers of Islam as superior. They think that people from other castes, religions or communities rather than Islam are not to be given proper representation. Mainly they have mixed religion with politics. I don’t mean that it is bad to preach Islam but preaching it extremely and denying other religions their rights is bad. Every religion should be given equal importance and religion should not intervene in politics. These issues have caused a lot of tension and anger between the Sindhis. Even though there is not much rebellion in Sindh, they want to become an independent and form a country named Sindhudesh. Pakistan opposes it as it will not only lose its 3^rd largest province and the contributor of 23% of the country’s GDP but also will lose the Karachi Port which is one of the only hopes which prevents Pakistani Economy from crashing badly as it accounts for 60% of the country’s shipping routes. If Balochistan and Sindhudesh get independence then Pakistan and China (through CPEC) will lose direct access to the Indian Ocean crippling their economies and Pakistan becoming a landlocked country.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP): – The third largest economic contributor in Pakistani economy through its natural resources and growing industrial base. It is the 4^th largest state in Pakistan. This area strongly wants to join Afghanistan. Taliban and Pakistani Taliban are trying their best to integrate it back into the motherland. In order to understand why they want Independence; we need to understand the history of this area. In 1893, during the Great Game, The Britishers divided the Afghan Empire from India. The reason behind this was the fear of the Imperial Russian Army which could capture their prized rich colony – India. The infamous Durand line was drawn by Mortimer Durand dividing Afghanistan from India to use it as a buffer state between British India and Imperial Russia. However, this line divided the Pashtun people living in that area, on basis of Afghani Pashtuns and Pakistani Pashtuns. This line was drawn purely out of British greed. Even today, Afghanistan, Pakistani Taliban and Taliban do not recognize this line defining it as unclear and arbitrary lines, dividing Pashtuns without consideration. Even today, Pashtuns face discrimination by the Pakistani Government. Pashtuns contribute a lot in Afghanistani population. Pakistan tortures them by either kidnapping, killing, supressing peaceful protests or sending them back to Afghanistan. Taliban and Pakistani Taliban are doing their best to liberate KP and integrate it back into the motherland. There have been many clashes between Pakistani Army and the Taliban Regime.

Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Kashmir:- This area consists of local Kashmiris. It is an undeveloped area and there is not much tourism due to continuous cross-border terrorism across the other side in India. The abolishment of Article 370 has led to a decrease in  terrorism in India but a lot of extremist and radical anti-India and anti-Hindu speeches take place. The people of Kashmir in Pakistan are divided into 2 types. The 1^st type wants to stay in Pakistan in the name of Nationalism and Islamic unification. The 2^nd type wants to join India as they want development in their areas on seeing the economic development in Indian Kashmir and the restoration of democracy and social justice in India. India also wants to include Kashmir in its area in order to stop terrorism and get back the illegally occupied area back into the motherland.

Khalistan: – This area is the Pakistani Punjab. This area is claimed by Khalistan, a Sikh terrorist organisation. This organisation is currently friends with Pakistan and is suspected of links with ISI. If all the states mentioned above get independence or get integrated into their motherlands respectively, then it can demand it’s share of land as Pakistan had agreed to give them their piece of land but India has refused. There is also a chance that after Pakistan is divided and only when Khalistan gets it’s land from India then Pakistan will give it’s land. So, India can also become the reason of the existence of Pakistan as well as it’s downfall when it collapses.

In 1971, Bangladesh, USSR and India fought against Pakistan and many countries like USA, UK, Iran, Indonesia, France etc. to liberate Bangladesh from Pakistan. The story of Bangladesh aligns with the story of many states. Whether it is the formation of an Independent Army like The Bangladesh Liberation Army (BLA) or the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) or the same cause of rebellion, divide among caste, communities, religion and ethnicity, This time, Islam is only uniting less people with Pakistan. Now, development, equality and many factors are uniting people against Pakistan. The liberation of Bangladesh is the greatest motivation for a Pakistani fighting for freedom. As a great person said, “History repeats itself” and right now, everything happening aligns with the same things that happened in 1971. The question is Will Pakistan Survive?

The author is a student at New Era Public School, Delhi