Balochistan says provincial action plan against separatists ready amid spike in violence

Arab News

5 days ago

ISLAMABAD: Amid a renewed wave of separatist violence in Balochistan, Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti said Wednesday a provincial action plan for peace had been formulated, as he warned of the evolving and asymmetric nature of the security threat facing the province.
The statement came during the 16th National Workshop on Balochistan in Quetta, where Bugti addressed senior civil and military participants. His remarks followed a recent spike in attacks by ethnic Baloch insurgents, who have escalated their decades-long campaign by launching coordinated strikes on security forces, government officials and non-local workers.
The unrest continues despite repeated crackdowns and military operations, complicating stability efforts in a province critical to the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
'A provincial action plan for peace in Balochistan has been formed,' Bugti was quoted in an official statement circulated after the event. 'Our response mechanisms have been strengthened, and terrorists cannot hold even an inch of ground permanently.'
While acknowledging that the province has long suffered from misgovernance and uneven development, Bugti rejected that unemployment and underdevelopment alone were driving unrest.
'Those who fight the state do so not because of jobs or education but because they dream of a separate state based on Baloch identity,' he continued. 'This is an intelligence-driven drone war against Pakistan.'
He added that the insurgents were attempting to push the Baloch people into an unwinnable conflict.
'The Baloch nation is being dragged into a futile war,' he said, warning that acts of violence, whether in the name of nationalism or religion, would be treated the same.
'We will embrace those disillusioned with the state and address their grievances, but those who kill innocents and want to break the country cannot be engaged outside the constitution,' he added.
The chief minister described the provincial security landscape as increasingly opaque, saying Pakistani forces were operating in 'grey zones' where it was difficult 'to distinguish between friend and foe.'
On the issue of enforced disappearances, a deeply contentious point in Balochistan's political discourse, Bugti said that comprehensive legislation had already been passed.
Families of missing persons and human rights groups accuse state institutions of arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan.
Pakistani authorities have frequently rejected these claims, calling them 'baseless allegations.'
Reiterating that the fight against separatist violence is not just the state's burden but 'a war that concerns every Pakistani,' Bugti said the state would remain firm against any attempt to destabilize the province.