Empowering Balochistan

EDITORIAL: The promises are familiar. So is the setting. Federal leaders descend upon Balochistan, praise its strategic importance, lament its underdevelopment, announce a generous package, and then vanish into the headlines. This weekend’s grand Jirga and prime ministerial pledges — Rs 250 billion from the PSDP, a Rs 70 billion solarisation plan, and a redirection of petroleum windfalls to upgrade highways — fit right into this old pattern. The question is whether anything will change this time because, thus far, the ground reality has not changed.

Balochistan remains Pakistan’s most resource-rich yet most deprived province. Infrastructure is brittle, basic services patchy, and political inclusion still feels conditional. And while the prime minister was right to stress that all provinces are equal stakeholders, it is precisely the absence of equality — perceived and real — that has fuelled decades of alienation in Balochistan.

That alienation, of course, is no longer just a domestic concern. Balochistan is now the primary target of India’s proxy war against Pakistan. The BLA insurgency, powered by foreign funding and guided by foreign intelligence, is no longer a ragtag rebellion. It’s a deliberate campaign of sabotage. It targets roads, power lines, checkposts, and increasingly, the perception that the province can ever be peacefully governed. In such an environment, development isn’t just a right — it’s a strategic imperative.

This is why the government’s renewed focus matters — but only if it translates into delivery. The solarisation plan, if implemented at scale, could transform access to energy in vast rural pockets. Highway development, if completed on time, could finally link isolated regions to national trade arteries. And a sustained 25 percent PSDP allocation, if disbursed transparently, could begin to bridge the trust gap between centre and province.

But all of this is conditional — on implementation, on continuity, on political will. Too many times before, the state has spoken of Balochistan’s pain only to revert to business as usual. Grand gestures dissolve into bureaucratic inertia. Project funds disappear into unaccountable channels. And each cycle of unmet expectations deepens resentment.

What must be understood — urgently and clearly — is that this cycle cannot be allowed to repeat itself. The stakes are now far higher. Terrorism has once again shifted the security equation in the province. This is not a passing wave of violence. If Islamabad delays tangible progress again, it risks ceding both legitimacy and ground in Balochistan — not just to insurgents, but to the narrative that the federation has no answers.

The response, then, must be twofold: hard and soft. While security forces continue to counter insurgent violence, the state must simultaneously wage a campaign of restoration — of infrastructure, opportunity, and above all, trust. Promises alone won’t restore this. Results will.

The people of Balochistan do not want charity. They want equity. They do not ask for favours. They demand what is constitutionally and morally owed. That includes proper schooling, functioning hospitals, modern connectivity, local representation, and economic participation. The province has paid its dues — in natural resources, in sacrifice, in strategic importance. It’s about time the state delivered on its side of the bargain.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s speech, for all its ambition, must now be followed by a delivery mechanism that circumvents the usual pitfalls. Oversight must be built in. Progress must be made visible. The enemy is betting on Pakistan’s inconsistency. The challenge now is to prove it wrong — not with rhetoric, but with reform. That means staying the course even when the cameras move on. Because only a sustained, visible improvement in lives and livelihoods can turn the tide in Balochistan.

The state’s duty is not to pacify Balochistan. It is to empower it. And that duty, long neglected, cannot be deferred any longer.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025