Visiting Fellow Rehmat Baloch Opens Workshop with Research on Balochistan

The UMass Human Security Lab has been joined this year by visiting scholar Rehmat Ullah Baloch, who is currently in the process of completing his dissertation, “Conflict Transformation in Balochistan: Internal and External Factors,” at Quaid-I-Azam University in Islamabad, Pakistan. Rehmant will kick off this year’s Conflict, Violence and Security workshop with remarks about his developing research.

Rehmat is originally from the village of Nushki in the Chaghi district of Balochistan, Pakistan located near the Afghan border. Rehmat had family in Afghanistan and Iran and living in a frontier area between borders is what drove his early interest in world politics. He obtained his BA in Political Science from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and later his masters from the School of Politics and International Relations at Quaid-I-Azam University before he enrolled in his MPhil. During his PhD, Rehmat completed two international fellowships: one on conflict transformation in Thailand, and another on nuclear safety and security through the Howard J. Baker Center for Public Policy, sponsored by the University of Tennessee.

Rehmat’s research emphasizes peacebuilding and conflict transformation and, outside the academy, he is honing his skills as a conflict mediator. He has maintained a strong commitment to activism since joining in on student organizing efforts during his undergraduate career. He hopes to serve as an example to other Balochi students who aspire to higher education and, in service of that goal, he helps students from his district to navigate the college admissions process. He says, “My PhD is not for myself, but to give courage to others to do the same.”