India-Pakistan: January 11, 2005

Archives

In Pakistan, Baluchi tribesmen attacked the countrys largest gas fields, killing eight security guards and forcing the shutdown of  pumping operations. The tribesmen want higher royalties for the gas pumped from their land in Baluchistan. The Baluchi tribes, like the Pushtun tribes to the north, have never fully accepted the idea of Pakistan, nor the authority of the Pakistani government. India has a similar problem with tribes in its northeast, but the tribes make up a much larger proportion of the Pakistani population (15 percent versus less than one percent in India).