Lieutenant-General  Abdul Qadir Baloch (Urdu

Urdu

Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

) is a Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

i politician and retired Pakistan Army

Pakistan Army

The Pakistan Army is the branch of the Pakistani Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The Pakistan Army came into existence after the Partition of India and the resulting independence of Pakistan in 1947. It is currently headed by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The Pakistan...

 general who served as the Governor of Balochistan in 2003 and is currently an elected parliamentarian in the National Assembly of Pakistan

National Assembly of Pakistan

The National Assembly of Pakistan is the lower house of the bicameral Majlis-e-Shura, which also compromises the President of Pakistan and Senate . The National Assembly and the Senate both convene at Parliament House in Islamabad...

 (MNA) from his constituency in Quetta

Quetta

is the largest city and the provincial capital of the Balochistan Province of Pakistan. Known as the "Fruit Garden of Pakistan" due to the diversity of its plant and animal wildlife, Quetta is home to the Hazarganji Chiltan National Park, which contains some of the rarest species of wildlife in the...

. He is affiliated with the Pakistan Muslim League (N)

Pakistan Muslim League (N)

The Pakistan Muslim League is a conservative political party in Pakistan, affiliated with Western conservatism...

 (PML-N) political party. He holds the distinction of being the first ethnic Baloch

Baloch people

The Baloch or Baluch are an ethnic group that belong to the larger Iranian peoples. Baluch people mainly inhabit the Balochistan region and Sistan and Baluchestan Province in the southeast corner of the Iranian plateau in Western Asia....

 army general in the Pakistani military establishment

Establishment (Pakistan)

The Establishment is a term used commonly by Pakistani political scientists and also by political scholars and analysts around the world for the powerful military-dominant oligarchy in Pakistan...

.

Earlier, he served as the Corps Commander of Quetta

Quetta

is the largest city and the provincial capital of the Balochistan Province of Pakistan. Known as the "Fruit Garden of Pakistan" due to the diversity of its plant and animal wildlife, Quetta is home to the Hazarganji Chiltan National Park, which contains some of the rarest species of wildlife in the...

 before retiring prematurely to take up the post of governor. During his army career, Baloch also commanded an infantry brigade in Muzaffarabad

Muzaffarabad

Muzaffarabad is the capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, Pakistan. It is located in Muzaffarabad District on the banks of the Jhelum and Neelum rivers...

 and remained a General Officer Commander (GOC) at Murree

Murree

Murree city is a popular hill station and a summer resort, especially for the residents of Rawalpindi/Islamabad, and for the cities of the province of Punjab, Pakistan...

, while commanding troops positioned along the Line of Control

Line of Control

The term Line of Control refers to the military control line between the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which, to this day, does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary but is the de facto border...

 in Pakistan-administered Kashmir

Pakistan-administered Kashmir

Azad Kashmir borders the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the west, the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan to the north west, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of People's Republic of China to the north and the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir, to the east.A...

. He has spoken extensively on political affairs and issues concerning the Balochistan conflict

Balochistan conflict

The Balochistan conflict is an ongoing conflict between Baloch nationalists and the Government of Pakistan over Balochistan, the country's largest province...

 in the province of Balochistan, where he originally hails from, and has been a long-standing advocate and campaigner for human rights across the country. In August 2011, he was selected by his party chief Nawaz Sharif

Nawaz Sharif

Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif is a Pakistani conservative politician and steel magnate who served as 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1990 to July 1993, and from February 1997 to October 12, 1999...

as the assistant secretaries-general of the PML-N.