The Real Drivers of Militancy in Balochistan: Terrorists and their Proxies Propaganda, Not State Oppression

In a recent article in The Diplomat, exiled journalist Kiyya Baloch attempts to answer a pointed question reportedly posed by Lt. Gen. Rahat Naseem Ahmed Khan, Corps Commander of Balochistan, to civil servants in Gwadar: What is driving young, educated Baloch women toward militancy? Baloch’s answer is predictable and dangerously misleading: “oppressive state policies” enforced by the Pakistani military through “handpicked proxy politicians.” He portrays the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) as a purely peaceful civil rights movement and casts the state’s response to escalating terrorism as the root cause of radicalization.
This narrative inverts cause and effect. It whitewashes the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and affiliated terrorist groups, which have intensified a campaign of suicide bombings, targeted killings, and sabotage, including the deliberate recruitment and deployment of educated women as suicide bombers. Far from being victims of state excess, these women are being ideologically weaponized by outfits that reject Pakistan’s sovereignty outright and seek to derail development projects that benefit the very Baloch people they claim to represent.

The Facts on the Ground

Balochistan has indeed faced periodic unrests since 1948, rooted in concocted historical grievances, underdevelopment, and a vocal separatist minority. Yet the current surge in violence tells a different story from the one Baloch presents. In 2024, Baloch insurgent attacks reportedly rose sharply, and in 2025 Pakistan recorded 1,139 terrorism-related deaths, its highest level since 2013, though lethality of attacks was curtailed through effective counter terrorism. Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bore the brunt, with groups like the BLA playing a prominent role alongside the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan.
The BLA has openly boasted of using female operatives. Cases include Mahikan Baloch’s suicide attack on a military convoy in Kalat in March 2025, and reports of women such as Asifa Mengal, Hawa Baloch, and others participating in coordinated assaults, including “Operation Herof” waves that targeted security forces, infrastructure, and civilians. These are not spontaneous acts of desperation sparked by “repression.” They reflect a calculated strategy by hardcore separatists to expand their ranks beyond traditional tribal fighters, exploiting social media, diaspora networks, and romanticized narratives of resistance.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has pursued a dual-track approach: robust counter-terrorism operations to neutralize active threats, coupled with massive development investments. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has brought roads, power plants, hospitals, vocational institutes, and the transformation of Gwadar Port into a regional hub. Projects like the Eastbay Expressway, desalination plants, solar initiatives, and special economic zones aim to address chronic neglect and create jobs. Sabotaging these like attacking Chinese engineers, teachers, and local infrastructure is not a cry for better governance; it is an attempt to keep Balochistan unstable and isolated from national progress.

The BYC and the Hybrid Threat

Baloch and his allies depict the BYC, led by figures like Dr. Mahrang Baloch, as a grassroots, women-led movement focused solely on enforced disappearances and constitutional protest. In reality, the timing, scale, and rhetoric of certain BYC actions have repeatedly coincided with spikes in BLA operations, creating what security analysts describe as a hybrid environment. Peaceful protest is a right, but when it veers into incitement, glorification of militants, or disruption that aids terrorist logistics, the state has a duty to respond under the law.
Dr. Mahrang Baloch and associates face charges under Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act, not for “activism,” but based on investigations into specific activities. Pakistan maintains commissions to investigate missing persons cases, resolving thousands over the years. Many listed as “disappeared” later surface in militant ranks, have fled abroad, or fall victim to internal terrorist score-settling. The narrative of mass extrajudicial killings conveniently ignores that the BLA itself kills far more Baloch civilians labeled as “collaborators” or “traitors” than security forces do in targeted operations.
Elections in Balochistan, including 2024, were held under constitutional processes. Allegations of rigging are common in polarized politics worldwide; the real barrier to participation is often BLA threats against voters and candidates. Provincial leaders like Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti represent elected mandates, not mere “proxies.” Inflammatory rhetoric from so called Rights activists exists, but it is terrorist violence to include beheadings, train hijackings, bombings of civilian targets, school children, etc that most alienates moderate Baloch youth.

The Way Forward: Development, Dialogue, and Decisive Action

Genuine grievances in Balochistan; cultural, economic, social, deserve attention. Pakistan acknowledges this and is acting through constitutional politics, youth empowerment programs, and infrastructure that connects remote areas to markets and opportunities. Releasing individuals charged with terrorism links without due process, or dismantling elected structures to appease separatist-aligned voices, would reward violence and erode the rule of law.
The Corps Commander’s question merits a candid response: Educated Baloch women are being radicalized by separatist networks that exploit real issues while offering a false promise of “liberation” through the gun. These networks benefit from external patronage, diaspora funding, and sympathetic international platforms that amplify one-sided stories while downplaying the blood on the hands of groups like the BLA.
Pakistan’s security forces, working with provincial authorities, remain committed to eradicating terrorism while protecting all citizens including the vast majority of Baloch who want peace, education, jobs, and integration into a prosperous Pakistan. True political legitimacy flows from the Constitution and the ballot box, not from articles that shield those waging war against the state.
Balochistan’s future lies in inclusive development and dialogue with those willing to work within the system rather than capitulation to terrorists and their proxies who recruit women for suicide vests. International observers should look beyond curated protest footage and diaspora narratives to the full picture: a province under terrorist assault, where the state is simultaneously fighting extremism and building for tomorrow.
Pakistan will continue exposing distorted analyses that serve anti-state agendas while delivering tangible progress for the people of Balochistan.