BALOCHISTAN is often portrayed as a province held hostage by terrorism. That is only part of the story. It has also been held captive by decades of poor governance, political neglect and an elite that has too often failed the very people it claims to represent. The result is a province trapped in a cycle of violence from which it has yet to escape. The latest chapter claimed forty-two Pakistani lives in just four days. In Ziarat, militants stormed a police post guarding the Mangi Dam pumping station, killing nine policemen and abducting eighteen others before later executing them. Hours later, another eleven soldiers were killed in an ambush near Bela. In Balochistan, such tragedies have become disturbingly routine.

The insurgency has evolved. It is no longer characterized by sporadic attacks but by increasingly coordinated and ambitious operations. According to the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, Balochistan witnessed at least 254 terrorist attacks in 2025, a 26 percent increase over the previous year, resulting in more than 400 deaths. In January 2026, the BLA launched coordinated attacks across multiple districts, briefly seizing government installations, attacking banks and engaging security forces in prolonged firefights. Earlier, the Jaffar Express hijacking and the suicide bombing of a school bus in Khuzdar that killed eight children demonstrated that militant groups are no longer confined to remote mountains. They are capable of striking strategic infrastructure, public transport and civilian targets alike.

Balochistan is not simply another province........

© Pakistan Observer