Shafaqna Pakistan: A senior security official has called for a new political and strategic strategy for Balochistan, saying the province’s longstanding challenges cannot be addressed through force alone and require sustained engagement with the local population.
Speaking to journalists in Quetta on Friday, the official said the focus should be on “winning peace, not war” in Balochistan, stressing that the situation could not be resolved through bullets but through dialogue. “The real issue is the narrative,” he said, acknowledging that the province faced serious challenges but insisting they were “not insurmountable”.
The official stressed the need for a long-term vision for Balochistan, including a proposed 10-year strategy, rather than short-term measures driven by individual security crises. He also rejected the notion that the province’s population should be broadly viewed with suspicion, saying, “There is no traitor in Balochistan. Ninety-nine point nine per cent are patriots, just like people in other parts of Pakistan.”
He acknowledged that people in the province had genuine grievances, although some concerns were being amplified or exploited for political purposes. “We respect them,” he said, emphasising that the state should engage with common people rather than notables and sardars who only exploited the situation for their own benefits.
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According to the official, authorities had held around 54,000 engagements with people in Balochistan last year and another 34,000 this year as part of efforts to reach out to local communities. “We dialogue with the masses, not with Sardars,” he said, arguing that the focus should remain on ordinary citizens.
The official said those who had taken up arms against the state would continue to be dealt with through security operations, but maintained that a political solution had to accompany the kinetic response. “Those who take up arms are dealt with arms,” he said, adding that the broader objective was to bring people into the political mainstream.
The official identified what he called political deprivation as one of the central problems facing Balochistan, rather than simply economic deprivation.
He pointed out that the province had only 16 seats in the National Assembly despite accounting for nearly half of Pakistan’s landmass.
“When was the last time a major political party held a public rally in Balochistan?” he asked, suggesting that the absence of mainstream political parties had created a vacuum that was increasingly being filled by social movements and narratives promoted through social media.
He argued that the Baloch voice remained under-represented in parliament, noting that Balochistan was the only province where, in some areas, one National Assembly constituency covered as many as four districts.
Source: Express Tribune
