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Pakistan’s recent offer of dialogue with Baloch insurgents is a desperate attempt at containing the uprising, reflecting the limits of military repression to cover its failure to address the restive province's political, economic, and cultural grievances.
The country’s largest province geographically, along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has together accounted for 96 per cent of violence-linked fatalities in the country in the second quarter of 2026, with the former reporting 265 fatalities, according to Pakistan media reports.
The provinces remain twin epicentres of violence, with killings escalating this year, underscoring the urgency of a political solution that Islamabad has been avoiding.
Now, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s call for a "grand dialogue" this month marks a notable departure, or diversion, from Pakistan’s traditional reliance on military operations.
For decades, Islamabad has sought to quell separatist movements in Balochistan through force, deploying the army, alongside paramilitary units, to suppress dissent. Yet, the sharp rise in violence, especially last month’s toll that was triple the previous month’s records, has exposed the futility of a militarised approach.
Thus, the government’s willingness to welcome insurgents “back into the mainstream” is less a magnanimous gesture than an acknowledgement that repression has failed to secure peace. The use of army in aggressive combating the demands of people whom Islamabad calls as its own underscores a dilemma, where the oppression in Balochistan is flaming resentment for using force without reconciliation; a fact Islamabad has to realise sooner than later.
At the root of Balochistan’s unrest lies the resource question. The province itself is rich in natural gas, coal, copper, and gold, yet its people remain among the poorest in Pakistan.
Without genuine political autonomy and equitable resource-sharing, development risks being seen as another form of exploitation. Successive governments have been extracting these resources to support Islamabad’s revenues, with negligible offers in return to local communities. Sharif’s recent acknowledgement that "mineral wealth belongs to the Baloch people" is significant, but decades of dispossession have created mistrust.
Pakistan’s offer to world powers like the United States and China to mine the lands has been perceived as further threats for the local people inhabiting the rugged landscape. The United States officially labels Baloch rebels, specifically the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), as a terrorist organisation, but blocked China-Pakistan’s attempt to formalise this under UN sanctions, citing lack of direct links to Al Qaeda or the Islamic State (ISIL or ISIS).
Meanwhile, the $65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a 3,000-km network of highways, railways, pipelines, and energy projects linking Gwadar Port in Pakistan to China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, is seen by many as intensifying militarisation, threatening Baloch identity, and failing to deliver tangible benefits to ordinary people.
In Pakistan, the political marginalisation of its largest province, geographically, reflects through the inhabitants’ limited representation in national decision-making. Local leaders often complain that policies are imposed from Islamabad without consultation, reinforcing perceptions of colonial-style governance.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi's July statement that the "state’s writ will be enforced at all costs" reflects the thrust on coercion rather than dialogue. The militarisation has alienated ordinary citizens, fueling moves for insurgent recruitment. Such exercises have not eliminated insurgency; instead having entrenched cycles of retaliation.
Repression has failed, and the recent call for dialogue is both an admission of that failure and a chance to chart a new path. Pakistan’s challenge is to move beyond seeing Balochistan as a security problem and instead recognise it as a political question of identity, rights, and dignity. Whether Islamabad seizes this moment to address the province’s long-standing grievances will determine if Balochistan remains a battlefield or becomes a partner in Pakistan’s future.
