Balochistan as partner

Balochistan’s isolation is not only geographic or developmental but rooted in questions of power and sovereignty. The province faces an armed separatist movement that seeks not reform, but secession, and has increasingly resorted to violence to pursue that goal.

While often framed as a domestic political crisis, there is a growing understanding that elements of this separatism are externally influenced and, in some cases, sustained by foreign interests. This dimension adds complexity to an already sensitive situation.

At the heart of the current policy approach is a development-security framework. On the one hand, Balochistan has been the focus of renewed investment and infrastructure-building, particularly through CPEC and regional connectivity projects. On the other, ensuring the safety of workers, assets and local communities has necessitated an expanded security presence. These twin pillars – economic development and security stabilization – are now at the centre of the state’s engagement in the province.

This shift is significant. Just recently, new initiatives have been launched in Gwadar under the government’s integrated development strategy, including a desalination plant to address local water scarcity, expanded vocational training centres and housing schemes tied to employment generation. These are early steps, but they suggest an intent to translate national-level projects into community-level benefits.

It signals that Balochistan is no longer viewed solely through a security lens, but increasingly as a region integral to Pakistan’s future economic landscape. However, if these initiatives are to succeed, they must move beyond physical infrastructure and address the deeper question of political legitimacy and inclusion.

As emphasised in international frameworks on the security-development nexus, sustainable peace requires more than parallel progress in security and economic growth; it requires that the two actively reinforce one another. Where security enables development, development must, in turn, reduce the drivers of conflict – particularly exclusion, inequality and lack of trust in public institutions. Without this mutual reinforcement, both objectives risk falling short. Development divorced from participation and local ownership risks undermining itself.

For decades, Balochistan has seen decisions made about it, not with it. Security imperatives have often dictated the tone and direction of federal engagement, while provincial institutions remained weak and local voices struggled to shape the agenda. Even today, national conversations about Balochistan tend to orbit two fixed points: insurgency and investment. One casts the province as a threat to national cohesion; the other, as a resource-rich frontier. In both cases, the people of Balochistan are rarely presented as political actors in their own right.

What’s missing is a national approach that sees Balochistan not as a zone of intervention, but as a constituency with agency and aspirations.

While Balochistan has formal representation in federal structures, including the Senate and National Assembly, its perspectives are often filtered through the prism of national priorities. There is limited space in mainstream policymaking and media for Baloch positions that diverge from centre-structured narratives. As a result, even genuine concerns are sometimes viewed with suspicion or dismissed as peripheral.

This marginalisation has real consequences. When communities feel that their political voice holds little weight in shaping their future, trust erodes. When politics becomes extractive rather than participatory, development loses its legitimacy, even when intentions are sincere. The result is a recurring pattern: investment plans launched with optimism, only to be met with scepticism or resistance on the ground.

That is not to deny that progress has been made. Recent initiatives indicate an emerging awareness that Balochistan’s challenges cannot be resolved through force or funding alone. Dialogue with estranged Baloch groups has been attempted. Local development efforts have increased. Programmes in education, health and digital access reflect a growing focus on human development. These efforts deserve recognition, but they must be embedded in a deeper political strategy.

Strengthening provincial institutions is essential – through transparent elections, empowered assemblies and genuine local participation in key decisions, especially on natural resources and development planning.

There must also be an unambiguous commitment to constitutional protections and rule of law. Allegations of enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and legal impunity must be addressed through proper judicial mechanisms. Justice, even when politically inconvenient, builds far more legitimacy than silence or denial.

Equally important is the decentralisation of narrative ownership. Balochistan has for too long been viewed through external frameworks – whether shaped by national security concerns, centralised economic planning or distant media narratives. National media, academia and policy institutions must create room for Baloch perspectives, especially those that challenge the dominant discourse or question the centre’s assumptions.

The presence of separatist violence complicates the picture. Attacks on security personnel, civilians, infrastructure, and economic projects have all contributed to instability and fear. This violence, while often framed as resistance, has in reality narrowed the space for dialogue and democratic engagement. It has placed ordinary citizens – especially those working on or benefitting from state-led initiatives – in the crossfire.

Yet militancy thrives in political vacuums. The task ahead is not only to contain violence but to outcompete it, by offering a credible political alternative grounded in rights, representation, and respect. Security operations may be necessary, but they cannot substitute for long-term political inclusion.

The federal government must move beyond seeing Balochistan as a project site or a security risk. It must treat it as a partner. That requires patience, humility and a willingness to address uncomfortable truths. It also demands a broader national conversation in which Balochistan is not just present, but central.

If progress is the goal, politics can no longer be an afterthought. It must be the foundation.

The writer is an independent media and foreign policy analyst. She posts/tweets @MsAishak