by Dr. Munir Ahmed Baloch The huge land mass of Balochistan rising steadily from the coastal plains of the sea of Arabia to the eerie heights of Quetta, and then descending in an undulating manner up to the fringe of the North-West Frontier Province, covers a little over 125,000 sq. miles constituting almost 43% of the total area of Pakistan. Another 45,000 sq. miles of Balochistan territory lie in the neighbouring state of Iran and smaller region in southern Afghanistan.1 With the advent of British colonial rule over India, Balochistan came under colonial influence in 1876 and was portioned among Iranians and the British. The Eastern part of Balochistan was further divided into British Balochistan, Balochistan States, while a part of Seistan was given to Afghanistan. The areas of Derajat and Jacobabad (Khan Garh) was demarcated and given to British India. British imperialists used Balochistan as a military base to check the extension policy of Tsarist Russia against India.2 Balo