تلخیص
This paper will present a critical review of the Baloch and Balochistan showing that how the
Baloch have evolved to become a nation, and Balochistan from being a hinterland in Iranian
plateau to a province of Pakistani federation. The paper will discuss the origin of the Baloch and
examine the various theories about the origin of the Baloch nation and argue that neither the
primordialist nor the modernist theories of nationhood can explain the Baloch nation. In fact, it is
the ethno-symbolists that offer the best understanding of the Baloch as a nation. The Baloch
nation is heterogeneous in its composition, being an admixture of various ethnic, racial, and
linguistic groups over a long period of time. Baloch nationalism, however, is best understandable
via the modernist theories of nationalism. The paper will contend that the Baloch nation is neither
ancient nor modern because it emerged as a nation before the era of enlightenment and the
French revolution. The paper will elaborate the modern Baloch nation, the birth of ‗Baloch
Confederacy‘ in its historical perspective, from the arrival of the British in 1839 to the fall of the
State of Kalat into the Pakistani federation in 1948. The paper will finally provide a brief but
robust analysis on the emergence, evolution and dynamics of contemporary Baloch nationalism
vis-à-vis the federation of Pakistan
Manzoor Ahmed, Gulawar Khan. (2017) The History of Baloch and Balochistan: A Critical Appraisal, South Asian Studies, Volume 32, Issue 1.
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