This study aims at examining the political economy of the province of
Balochistan, Pakistan and the underlying causes of social and economic
under-development of the province. After presenting a brief and critical
account on the historical development of the people of Balochistan, the
paper argues that the province of Balochistan notwithstanding having a
huge and resourceful land has failed to keep the pace of socio-economic
development and modernity with other fellow provinces in the federation
of Pakistan. After the independence of Pakistan and the formation of
Balochistan as a province of, the people of Balochistan because of their
political disorganization and segregation and economic backwardness
failed to exert them within the political economy realm of Pakistan in
order to grab their due resource share. The saga of economic and social
backwardness of Balochistan province is a multifaceted puzzle. A section
of the Balochistan political elite and scholars believe that the centralist
nature of Pakistani federation is such that small nationalities like the
Baloch and Pashtoon would find it hard to get their due share within the
federation. That is because, the resource distribution and representation to
both elected bodies and state institutions are based upon population, and
Balochistan in spite of having 44% of Pakistan territory accommodates
only 5% of country’s total population, whereas, another section is in the
view that the nature of geo-economics and historical perspective of the
province hinder the pace of economic development. The paper also
touches the geostrategic importance of Balochistan and underlines its
economic difficulty in terms of the dearth of human resources, physical
infrastructure, economic autonomy, and productivity among others.