Tuesday, June 23, 2026
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Home › Greater Balochistan

Coverage desk

Greater Balochistan

One region, three states, and a community across the sea. Reporting Baloch land, culture and politics from Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Oman.

Pakistan 301 stories Iran 14 stories Afghanistan 5 stories Oman & Gulf 4 stories Arabian Sea Taftan-Mirjaveh Chaman-Spin Boldak Zaranj-Milak Gwadar Chabahar

Schematic: relative position only. Not a boundary map — borders in this region are contested and are not drawn here as fact.

Why this desk exists

Balochistan is a single historical and cultural region divided across three states — Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan — with a long-settled community in Oman and the wider Gulf. Reporting only the Pakistani province means reporting one part of a story that does not stop at the line: the same families, the same language, the same drought and the same trade routes carry straight across it. These four desks exist so that coverage follows the region rather than the border.

Frequently asked

What is Greater Balochistan?
The historical and cultural region of the Baloch people, today divided across three states — Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan — with a long-settled community in Oman and the wider Gulf.
Which countries is the region divided across?
Pakistan (Balochistan province), Iran (Sistan and Baluchestan) and Afghanistan (mainly Nimroz, Helmand, Farah and Kandahar). Oman hosts a Baloch community that is centuries old.
How many Baloch are there in total?
No state publishes an ethnic census, so every figure is an estimate. Totals across the three countries and the Gulf are commonly estimated in the range of 20 to 35 million, and the spread between sources is wide.
Was Gwadar really Omani?
Yes. Gwadar was granted to a member of the Omani royal family in 1783 and stayed under Omani sovereignty for 175 years, until Pakistan purchased it on 8 September 1958.

A note on figures: no state publishes an ethnic count of the Baloch, so population numbers in circulation vary widely. Everything on these pages is either an official census figure with its source named, or explicitly labelled an estimate.