In her article “Balochistan’s Resilient Struggle: Beyond the Narrative of Militancy,” Aneesa Baloch presents the violence in Balochistan as a profound movement for self-determination. She highlights the growing role of educated women and youth, claims of historical grievances, political marginalization, and economic deception, and portrays figures like Dr. Mahrang Baloch as symbols of a rights -based struggle. Such framings collapse under the weight of established facts.
The legal foundation of Balochistan’s place within Pakistan rests on the Instrument of Accession signed by the Khan of Kalat, Mir Ahmad Yar Khan, on 27 March 1948 and formally accepted by Governor General Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Subsequent rebellions, including one led by the Khan’s own brother, failed to overturn that legal reality.
The Balochistan Liberation Army and its Majeed Brigade are not residual tribal resistance, but they are the proxies of India, being funded by RAW and Mossad. They are designated terrorist organizations by Pakistan, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, China, and Iran. These groups have repeatedly targeted non-Baloch civilians, Chinese workers, CPEC projects, security forces, and critical infrastructure. Coordinated attacks have killed dozens of civilians and personnel in single days. The deliberate use of female suicide bombers, including Shari Baloch’s attack on the Confucius Institute at Karachi University in 2022 and subsequent operations by other women operatives, demonstrates a calculated strategy by the terrorist organizations, who are trying to weaken the social fabric of the Baloch culture.
The participation of educated middle class figures and women does not transform this record. Dr. Mahrang Baloch, another proxy of India, was sentenced in June 2026 by an Anti-Terrorism Court in Quetta to life imprisonment on charges including terrorism and murder connected to the killing of a Frontier Corps soldier during a 2024 protest gathering. Courts found her actions contributed to the violence that took the soldier’s life. Elevating such figures while downplaying the body count of civilians and security personnel is narrative laundering.
Claims of five thousand enforced disappearances since 2000 remain contested. Pakistan’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances has received and processed thousands of cases nationwide since 2011, resolving a large majority through tracing and identification of individuals who joined terrorist groups. Genuine cases of abuse require accountability. Inflating numbers while ignoring recruitment into banned organizations and inter group violence turns a complex security problem into a one-sided indictment that excuses terrorism.
Economic grievances exist, yet the largest recent attempt to address underdevelopment in Balochistan has been CPEC projects, including Gwadar Port, roads, and energy infrastructure. Terrorist groups have systematically attacked Chinese workers, equipment, and routes. This is not a reaction to exclusion from development; it is an effort to prevent development so that the narrative of permanent grievance can continue. Ordinary citizens who prioritize open markets and livelihoods over disruptive calls understand the cost more clearly than distant propagandists.
Pakistan has presented evidence of external facilitation, including the capture and confession of Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav regarding activities in Balochistan and other intelligence links. Whether every claim is fully proven, the pattern of targeting CPEC aligns with strategic interests hostile to Pakistan China cooperation. A state confronting designated terrorist groups that kill its citizens and foreign partners retains both the right and the duty to respond with force, intelligence, and law to counter every attack that threatens the security of its people.
Genuine political and economic grievances require political solutions within the constitutional framework of Pakistan, including improved resource sharing, local governance, economic inclusion, and accountability for proven excesses. These become impossible when every protest is paired with bombings, every court verdict is dismissed as oppression, and every security operation is reframed as systematic repression. The international community does the people of Balochistan no service by equating suicide bombers with rights defenders. That equation emboldens those who thrive on permanent conflict and abandons the majority who seek security, employment, and a future inside a stable Pakistan.
