Balochistan: At a crossroads

Home > See > Story > Balochistan: At a crossroads

Advertisement*

A book of spectacular black-and-white images captures the essence of Balochistan, starting from the port town of Karachi, going through the vast deserts, on to the back country. Photographs by Marc Wattrelot and text by Willem Marx

July 15 , 2014

05 Min Read

Pakistani boys fly kites, and the containers and trucks of Karachi's port, Pakistan's largest transit hub. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
Karachi port by night. It is a 500-mile journey northwards from here to the Afghan border, along some of Balochistan's wilder roads. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
The dry landscape apparently deterred Arab invaders from settling here when Muhammad bin Qasim passed through to invade Sind in the 8th century AD. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
The landscape visible from the new coastal highway between Karachi and Gwadar, close to Pasni. The largely inhospitable but stunning stretch of shoreline is called the 'Makran Coast'. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
A worker descends the anchor chain of a beached supertanker at Gadani shipbreaking yard. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
A boy and two donkeys help transport fish from boat to beach. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
A panorama of the growing settlement of Gwadar, a part that belonged to the Omani Sultanate across the water late into the 20th century. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
A woman sews inside her tent on Gwadar's outskirts. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
Rough terrain in the Kech valley, north of Gwadar. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
A child reads his lesson at one of the few schools in southwest Balochistan. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
A local classroom, with its handful of female students. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
An armed Bugti tribesman walks through the ramshackle bazaar of Dera Bugti. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
A Baloch man at home near Sibi with his two wives and four children. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
A Baloch man in the courtyard of his home near Sibi, with his two wives and children in the background. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
A young Baloch boy drinks a cup of tea mixed with goat's milk on a nearly 7,000 feet high mountaintop close to Sibi. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
A miner takes a moment's rest. Few Baloch work in the mines as they consider it too dangerous, meaning most workers come from the impoverished Hazara regions of Afghanistan. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
A young child studies at a temporary school. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
Three Baloch goatherds in the mountains close to Sibi pray before slitting the throat of one of their goats. The animals constitute the primary form of wealth among the rural inhabitants of Balochistan province. (From the book 'Balochistan at a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
A man sits outside his makeshift home on the edge of the desert that begins just north of Gwadar. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)
Quetta was once called the 'Fruit Garden of Balochistan'. Ringed by mountains, it is 5,500 feet above sea level. (From the book 'Balochistan: At a crossroads', by Willem Marx and Marc Wattrelot; Published by Niyogi Books; Price Rs 2,495)