The Government of Pakistan has official designated all terrorist groups in Balochistan as ‘Fitna-al-Hindustan’.
This includes banned organizations like; a) Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), Balochistan Republican Army (BRA) and all such organizations challenging the writ of the state in the Province.
The sole reason to name these organizations as ‘Fitna-al-Hindustan’ is that; they all are funded, trained, provided weapons and even abetted by India to undertake the terrorist attacks against the State of Pakistan and its institutions.
Though the intelligence agencies of Pakistan had solid evidence of Indian sponsorship of these organizations, yet the recent Indian aggression against Pakistan (code name-‘Operation Sindoor’) reinforced the Pakistani stance.
Indeed, alongside ‘Operation Sindoor’ India activated its assets in Pakistan (‘Fitna-al- Hindustan’) that intensified terrorist attacks in various parts of the province.
Indeed, India had planned the Pahalgam false flag operation long-ago, and ‘Fitna-al-Hindustan’ also stepped-up their terrorist attacks against Pakistani security forces in advance.
This all aimed at dissipating the military assets of Pakistan all along to provide India an opportunity to undertake its military aggression against Pakistan without any major resis-tance.
On May 31, 2025, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif addressed Balochistan Grand Jirga in Quetta.
He maintained that whereas, “The terrorists [in Balochistan]- Fitna- al-Hindustan’ must not be tolerated by the public, government or armed forces, efforts should be made bring back the people who were misled.
” This is a clear indication of the Government and the state of Pakistan that, only terrorists of the ‘Fitna-al-Hindustan’ will be combated because of their terrorist attacks against the security forces.
The people of the province who have been coerced to become part of the terrorist outfits will be brought back and freed from the so-called banned and outlawed terrorist organizations (‘Fitna-al-Hindustan’).
Prime Minister emphasized that, “If there are any concerns, brothers need to sit together to solve those issues.
The blood-thirsty terrorists who are against Pakistan’s success and welfare must be stopped.
I want to ask what the gaps [there] are that we can fill with your suggestions [to solve problems].
” A determination has been noted in the address of Prime Minister for the permanent settlement of issues of the Balochistan Province.
With regards to the development of the Province, Prime Minister announced a huge developmental package in the forthcoming budget of the Province.
n announcement of Rs. 250 billion development budget has been made for the Balochistan Province out of total 1000 federal-funded Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) kept for entire Pakistan.
PM also directed the Provincial authority to; utilize this amount honestly for all areas including; Gwadar, Pasni, Chaman, Qila Saifullah, Quetta, Jhal Magsi or any other place.
Besides, some already launched projects include Rs70bn solar initiative for farmers and the N-25 Highway.
Indeed, Balochistan needs serious attention from all perspective; a) the worsening law and order issues, b) the deteriorating social issues where population has become hostage to terrorist outfits and affluent class-the sardars of the Province, c) the politicians who hardly pay attention for the wellbeing the masses and above all, a fear of unknown and uncertainty prevailing in the province since last two decades.
This is a golden opportunity for the political solution of all issues of the Province through a political approach.
Indeed, all issues of the Province are social and political in nature, there-fore, their resolutions warrants a political and social approach.
Besides, youth of the Province is being misled by terrorist organizations through new misleading narratives therefore; a special attention is needed to address their concerns.
The youth of the province has to be incorporated in all negotiations and discussions to resolve their concerns.
This approach will create optimism among the youth of the province and distance them from the terrorist organizations.
In the last few months, it has been noticed that, terrorist organizations are attracting the attention of local youth under the narrative of sub-nationalism and offering them financial sup-ports.
The existing chaos in the province, suits the terrorist organizations to lure-in and coerce the youth in their organizational set-up.
A socio-political and socio-economic solution must focus on this significant aspect with a special care.
There is an immediate need for engagement with the youth and general masses of the province at social, political and economic level.
The social engagement has to be real and sincere while exploring the cultural, traditional and religious aspects of the province.
After social engagement, the economic and political engagements will act as catalyst and as the booster.
This would include creating stakes of the masses in the major decision making process of the province while engaging the local notables and literate youth at gross-root level.
Indeed, the political engagement is all about empowering the masses and local notables through ownership.
The social engagement must include a rigorous campaign of identifying the socio-economic vulnerabilities of the masses and youth in the first instance.
After a clear identification of these vulnerabilities, the government must address the issues not as an economic assistance but as the basic right of the people of the Province.
This would include twin-process of economic well-being and social engagement.
Empowering the locals; the deprived class through a gradual strategy on social issues through a collective resolve will greatly reduce the socio-economic problems of the masses.
This all needs a judicious allotment of the resources and honest deliverance at needed sites; through a community development programme.
This should be strictly monitored by teams consisting of members from federal Government and officers of the armed forces of Pakistan without biases and discriminations.
— The writer is Professor of Politics and IR at International Islamic University, Islamabad. ([email protected])
