Pakistan's Balochistan province remains mired in instability and deprivation primarily because of poor governance, with the federal government in Islamabad treating the crisis as a security problem while ignoring its deeper social, economic, and political dimensions, according to a report by the Afghan Diaspora Network published on 9 August. Despite being one of Pakistan's most resource-rich regions, the province's own people see little of its wealth.

A Resource-Rich Province Left Behind

Balochistan is home to major strategic assets, including the Gwadar port and the Saindak copper and gold mine — both largely operated by China. According to the report, profits from these projects flow primarily to Chinese interests and to residents of Pakistan's Punjab and Sindh provinces, bypassing the local Baloch population entirely.

The province currently records the highest poverty rate in Pakistan, with 47 per cent of its residents living below the poverty line. Basic infrastructure — including gas connections, clean drinking water, and employment opportunities — remains absent across large swathes of the region, even as mega extraction projects operate on its soil.

Security-First Approach Failing, Experts Argue

Kadeem Baloch, a freelance journalist based in Pakistan who authored the Afghan Diaspora Network report, argues that the state's response has been dangerously narrow. 'Experts blame poor governance as a main culprit behind instability and deprivation. Quick to resort to repression, the state has considered Balochistan unidimensional as a security issue, ignoring the underlying social, economic, and political causes of the crisis,' he wrote.

Baloch specifically called out Operation Shaban, the ongoing military campaign in the province, noting that while it 'might hit the headlines for killing terrorists, it fails to ensure any sustainable peace and stability.' Experts cited in the report argue that military operations cannot deliver durable peace without addressing core grievances — including federalism, identity, and equitable distribution of resource revenues.

Militant Groups Escalate Infrastructure Attacks

Against this backdrop, armed groups continue to strike at the province's infrastructure. On Saturday, the Baloch Republican Guards (BRG) claimed responsibility for destroying two 220 kV electricity towers in the Nasirabad district, according to local media reports.

BRG spokesperson Dosteen Baloch said in a statement that BRG members blew up the towers at the Piru Pul area near Mir Hassan in Nasirabad — towers that carry power from the Och Power Plant to Punjab. Two towers collapsed entirely while two others sustained severe damage. The spokesperson stated that 'such operations will continue until the independence of Balochistan from Pakistan.'

Pakistan's Denial and the Ground Reality

Pakistan's federal government has consistently denied that the people of Balochistan are discontented, even as the province's poverty indicators and militant activity paint a starkly different picture. The majority of Balochistan's population, the report states, lives in extreme deprivation of resources, human rights, and educational access.

The report notes that marginalised residents, with few avenues for political or economic redress, have increasingly turned to militancy as a means of expressing grievance against what they describe as exploitation by outsiders. With Operation Shaban ongoing and armed groups vowing continued attacks, the cycle of repression and retaliation shows little sign of abating without a fundamental shift in Islamabad's approach.