All the king’s men
At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2019, when Balochistan's Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan declared that Balochistan was open for business, he was following in a long tradition of politicians hoping to attract capital to the resource-rich yet economically struggling province of Pakistan. Interestingly, in making this pitch to the gathering of the world's business elites, Khan was accompanied by General Asim Saleem Bajwa, former head of the Pakistan Army's media wing, who currently leads the Southern Command in the Baloch capital of Quetta.
The Davos appearance was the latest among a series of events that marked the political ascendance of Chief Minister Khan, or more accurately, of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) which he hails from. Formed amid political turmoil less than a year ago, the BAP is in many ways a new phenomenon in Balochistan. It takes a hitherto untraversed route in the province's politics – it is neither a regional extension of the national parties nor ideologically committed to Baloch nationalism or Islamist politics. The BAP is the first Balochistan-based federalist party.