The National Democratic Party has said that creating hatred between the Baloch and Pashtun nations serves policies of oppression and exploitation, calling for mutual unity, political consciousness and a joint democratic struggle by oppressed nations.
In a statement, the party’s central spokesperson said the NDP respects the homelands of all oppressed nations, including the Baloch and Pashtuns, and supports the formation of national units on historical, political, social and cultural grounds.
However, the spokesperson said such demands must be pursued with political maturity, respect for geographical order and conduct based on human and social principles.
The statement said any attempt to strike at the national unity of oppressed nations was aimed at preserving former British colonial administrative divisions, allowing regional politics to remain tied to “international capitalism and global imperialism” through what it described as a “modern colonial state”.
The NDP said Baloch and Pashtun areas were divided during British colonial rule through the Durand and Goldsmith lines, weakening their collective national strength so that any resistance to colonial domination could be kept under control.
It said the leasing of Baloch areas from the State of Kalat and the construction of railway tracks towards Kabul and Tehran were part of British colonial policies in which Baloch and Pashtun lands were used for strategic purposes.
The party said these policies were not limited to controlling land routes, but were also linked to the extraction of natural resources. It cited the extraction of high-quality coal from the region for industries in Calcutta as an example of how colonial power used the area for economic exploitation.
The statement said Pashtun resistance to British colonial rule had a long history, naming Faqir of Ipi and Palay Khan Mandokhail as leaders who resisted the colonial system with determination.
It said every part of the Pashtun homeland carried evidence of resistance to slavery, colonialism and imperialism.
The NDP said British imperial rule later used religion as a weapon to bring oppressed nations, including Baloch and Pashtuns, under a newly formed colonial state aligned with imperial interests.
The statement said the consequences of that project were still visible today, adding that the Baloch and Pashtun homelands had been turned into “killing fields”.
It accused the current ruling powers of playing imperialist games and stirring hatred between the two oppressed nations on the basis of false assumptions.
The party said Baloch, Pashtun and other oppressed nations were still denied the right to express their will through transparent elections, while what it called “bogus rulers” were imposed through unnatural laws to manage their administrative affairs.
The statement said forces responsible for chaos and unrest on Baloch and Pashtun lands were strengthening colonial structures and serving the interests of the real dominant rulers.
It said these conspiracies could only be exposed through joint and mutual cooperation.
The NDP said creating differences or hatred between the Baloch and Pashtun people was not in the interest of either nation.
“The real interest of both nations lies in mutual unity, political consciousness and a joint struggle,” the spokesperson said, adding that such unity was necessary to end historical and administrative inequality.
The party said oppressed nations should not be used against one another, but should organise within their own boundaries and national unity for their national, political and democratic rights.
It called on Baloch and Pashtuns to respect one another’s struggles and promote cooperation, saying only mutual unity and political consciousness could reduce the effects of existing administrative divisions and move both nations towards a just, democratic and empowered system.