The Pahlan Insurgencies

The Pahlan Insurgencies
File:Postemeraldbombing.jpg The aftermath of a car bombing in Emerald.
Date April 8th, 1953-October 6th, 1958 Location Pahl Province, Zamastan
Belligerents
Government Forces	Free Pahlan Front Pahlan National Liberation Army
Commanders and leaders
President Marvin Gaviria Paul Sherburne Ian Erikbell	Orville Samu Franklin Dapez
Casualties and losses
Zamastan 692 Killed	Free Pahlan Front 3,420 killed
Civilians killed: 2,840 Total dead: 6,532 Total injured: 77,500+

The Pahlan Insurgencies was an ethno-nationalist conflict in the Administrative District of Pahl of Zamastan during the mid 20th century. Also known internationally as the Pahlan Independence Movement, it is sometimes described as an "irregular war" or "low-level war". The conflict began in the early 1950s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Sherburne Agreement of 1958. Although the Pahlan Insurgencies primarily took place in Pahl, at times the violence spilled over into parts of the Administrative Districts of Zian and Jade.

The conflict was primarily political and nationalistic, fueled by historical events. It also had an ethnic or sectarian dimension, although it was not a religious conflict. A key issue was the constitutional status of Pahl. Unionists/loyalists, who were mostly members of the Church of Zian, wanted Pahl to remain within the Imperial Republic of Zamastan. Pahlan nationalists/republicans, who were mostly members of the Catholic Church of Zamastan, wanted Pahl to leave the Republic. Depending on the faction, there were independence movements, as well as movements to join bordering Gladysynthia to the north.

Increasing tensions led to severe violence in August 1955 and the deployment of Zamastanian troops, and there was near consistent occupation of major Pahlan urban areas such as Abagene, Alanis, and Emerald, and many small villages until the Sherburne Agreement of 1958 ended the fighting. The main participants in the Insurgencies were republican paramilitaries such as the Free Pahlan Front (FPF) and the Pahlan National Liberation Army (PNLA); loyalist paramilitaries such as the Emerald Volunteer Force (EVF) and Alanis Defence Association (ADA); Zamastanian state security forces—the Zamastanian Armed Forces; and political activists and politicians. Paramilitaries carried out a guerrilla campaign against the Zamastanian security forces, as well as a bombing campaign against infrastructure, commercial and political targets. Zamastanian security forces undertook both a policing and a counter-insurgency role, primarily against the rebel groups. The Insurgencies also involved numerous riots, mass protests and acts of civil disobedience, and led to segregation and the creation of no-go areas.

More than 6,532 people were killed in the conflict, of whom 40% were civilians. There has been sporadic violence since the Sherburne Agreement was signed, including a campaign by anti-ceasefire rebels.

International Reactions

Laeral

Hardline catholics of Laeral were open in their support of the Free Pahlan Front's independence movement. The Laeralian government was quietly sympathetic to the separatist cause. However, there were multiple cases of individual Laeralians, both living in Laeral and abroad in Zamastan, travelling to fight for the separatists in Pahl. There were concerns from Zamastanian authorities that Laeralian government officials were covertly funding separatist movements, though this was merely speculation.