The insurrection next door

Book review of Pakistan: The Balochistan Conundrum

Tilak Devasher has already established his reputation as one of India’s more knowledgeable and perceptive observers of Pakistan, thanks to his two earlier widely-acclaimed books, Pakistan: Courting the Abyss and Pakistan: At the Helm. His latest book, Pakistan: The Balochistan Conundrum, is about Pakistan’s largest but one of the least-known provinces, Balochistan. Few in India are aware of its chequered history, its complex ethnic mosaic and the paradox of its pervasive poverty co-existing with its abundant resources. Balochistan is also a festering wound on Pakistan’s body politic, stoked by a deep and persistent alienation of its tribal communities which has