RECENT targeted attacks in Balochistan, including those in Kech, Khuzdar and Gwadar, are described as calculated efforts by the banned BLA and TTP to render the province ungovernable through the murder of civilians and security personnel. It is a proven fact that the banned BLA and TTP are involved in hardcore terrorism. The BLA and its facilitator, the so-called Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), have become adept at hijacking genuine grievances. Yes, Balochistan has faced deprivation. Yes, there are legitimate demands for better schools, hospitals, jobs and a fair share in resources. No democracy can ignore them.
But what the BLA and BYC do is exploit this deprivation as a shield. Whenever a terrorist is killed or arrested, the immediate response is not condemnation of violence, but a campaign calling it “state oppression.” When schools are burned or gas pipelines are blown up, there is silence. When a soldier from Sibi is martyred, there is justification. This is not solidarity with the Baloch people. It is the use of the language of rights to protect killers. BYC functions as a legal and media wing for the BLA: it never condemns attacks on labourers, yet is the first to cry foul when courts convict those linked to violence. That selective outrage, the author argues, exposes an agenda centred on hate and obstructing the development of Baluchistan.
Security agencies have repeatedly traced links showing Indian intelligence support to BLA networks operating from Afghan soil. Funding, training, modern communication equipment and propaganda amplification are presented as evidence of a proxy strategy aimed at destabilizing CPEC and keeping Pakistan internally preoccupied. The TTP’s presence in border areas provides the second leg of this triangle. The two groups now share safe havens, smuggling routes and even digital platforms to spread fear.
The real victims of this strategy are the people of Baluchistan themselves. Gwadar, Reko Diq, agriculture, fisheries and mining—all potential engines of jobs and revenue—are held hostage by insecurity. Investors do not come where workers are dragged off buses and shot. Tourists avoid highways that are unsafe. As a consequence of terrorism, unemployment rises, poverty deepens and the very deprivation that terrorists cite is aggravated by their own actions.
Baluchistan’s future will not be decided by bullets in the mountains, but by schools in the valleys, jobs in the cities and trust between the state and its people. Three actions, the author contends, are essential to restore normalcy. First, uncompromising action against BLA and TTP terrorists through due legal process and strict accountability. Second, exposing and dismantling external support networks through diplomacy and evidence-based outreach, with particular attention to alleged Indian facilitation from Afghan territory. Third, accelerating development with local ownership so that young people see a future in economic opportunity rather than violence.
The people of Baluchistan have rejected the false choice between rights and peace. They want both and they deserve both. Condemning terrorism is not anti-Baloch; it is pro-Baloch. Until the guns fall silent, no road, school or hospital can flourish. And until development takes root, those who exploit deprivation will continue to find new excuses to justify violence.
—The writer is contributing columnist.
