A senior security official while talking to a group of journalists has called for a fresh political and strategic approach to Balochistan, arguing that the province’s complex problems cannot be resolved through the use of force alone and that the way forward lies in sustained dialogue with ordinary Baloch people. The official said Pakistan needed a long-term strategic vision for the province, including what he described as a 10-year plan, rather than relying on short-term responses to security crisis.
The message is important. A purely kinetic approach cannot address the complex situation in Balochistan. Security operations may be necessary to confront those who take up arms against the state, particularly foreign-backed terrorist elements, but force alone cannot resolve the political, social and economic grievances that have accumulated over decades. Lasting peace requires winning people’s trust, not merely defeating an armed threat. The real test, however, lies in turning this recognition into action. Successive governments have repeatedly announced their intention to engage with estranged Baloch people and address genuine grievances. Yet such declarations have rarely translated into a sustained and credible political initiative. This raises an obvious question: if dialogue has long been recognized as part of the solution, why has meaningful progress remained so elusive? And why have previous initiatives failed to develop into a serious, continuous process? The senior official’s call for a political approach, therefore, needs to be followed by genuine headway. Dialogue cannot remain a slogan or a public-relations exercise. It must be inclusive, patient and backed by political will, with space for legitimate grievances to be heard and addressed. There is no denying that Balochistan is Pakistan’s most strategically and economically important province. Its vast resources, geographical significance and role in the country’s future make its stability a national imperative. The goal should be to build a Balochistan where security and political reconciliation reinforce each other. As the official aptly put it, the real victory will come when the state wins over the common Baloch.
