The conflict began in 1973 shortly after then-Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto dismissed the elected provincial government of Balochistan on the pretext that arms had been discovered in the Iraqi Embassy, ostensibly for Baloch rebels.

The ensuing protest against the dismissal of the duly elected government also led to calls for Balochistan's secession, met by Bhutto's ordering the Pakistan Army into the province.

The operation itself was led by General Tikka Khan against an unknown number of militants coordinated by their Baloch sardars, or tribal chiefs, most notably Khair Bakhsh Marri and Ataullah Mengal.

Mujib had been a major personality in the events that had led to the war, having called for greater provincial autonomy and rights for what was then East Pakistan, only to be met with utter disapproval by the then military ruler Yahya Khan and his West Pakistan-based political opponent Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

India also played a large part in the independence of Bangladesh by arming and financing the separatist group Mukti Bahini which rebelled against the Pakistani State after the injustice done to the then East Pakistan.

Bhutto, however, refused to negotiate on any terms that might have involved a reduction in his powers, with chief minister Ataullah Mengal in Quetta and Mufti Mahmud in Peshawar.

Surveying the political instability, Bhutto's central government sacked two provincial governments within six months, arrested the two chief ministers, two governors, forty-four Members of the National Assembly and Provincial Assembly, obtained an order from the Supreme Court banning the NAP, and charged everyone with high treason to be tried by a specially constituted Hyderabad Tribunal of handpicked judges.

In time, the nationalist insurgency, which had been steadily gathering steam, now exploded into action, with widespread civil disobedience and armed uprisings.

The militant group Pasthun Zalmay was responsible for a series of bomb blasts and other insurgent activities in Pakistan; it comprised Balochs and Pashtuns and was in direct contact with Kabul as well as with the Indian and Iraqi missions in Afghanistan.

The operation remained modestly successful during the early 1970s, but ultimately failed when there was unrest amongst the Baloch nationalist leaders involved in the insurgency due to internal disputes.

This disorder accompanied by an extremely tough crackdown by the Pakistan Army (supported by Iran) in its Balochistan province crippled the joint Iraqi-Soviet attempts to destabilize the two key U.S. allies in the region and pave the way for Iraq's dominance over Iran as well as more favourable circumstances for India against Pakistan, with the goal of the region completely falling under the Soviet sphere of influence.

The disputes took place when Baloch politicians Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo and Ataullah Mengal of the National Awami Party refused to accept the demands of Akbar Bugti to establish himself as the Governor of the Pakistani Province of Balochistan.

[14] Due to communist ideology of the insurgents and in an attempt to destabilize Pakistan, a western aligned nation, the Soviet union started supporting groups like Balochistan Liberation Front, enabling them to regroup.

[15][16] American defence aid to Pakistan also promoted further Soviet support to the separatists to gain a stronghold in the region in the form of an independent Marxist Balochistan.

With the civil disobedience in Balochistan remaining widespread, the military brought in Lieutenant General Rahimuddin Khan as governor under martial law.

Ataullah Mengal and Khair Bakhsh Marri, sardars that had been active in the conflict, were isolated by Rahimuddin from provincial affairs, and left the province for foreign countries.

[17] Following the Soviet invasion of neighbouring Afghanistan in 1979, Rahimuddin used the resultant foreign attention on Balochistan by introducing an externally financed development programme for the area.