All the indicators depicting Pakistan’s fault lines prove that Baluchistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) are the country’s dangerous flashpoints. State actors and coalition government partners may deny insurgency in Baluchistan and widespread popular chagrin in AJK. Baluchistan is the oldest case study of launching military operations in Pakistan whereas, uprising against injustices is a recent phenomenon in AJK. Violence and terrorism in parts of KPK and resurgence of ethnic strife in Sindh also shape how flashpoints in almost half of Pakistan are a serious threat to the country’s integrity.

How insurgency in Baluchistan which got an impetus after the assassination of veteran Baluch leader Sardar Akbar Bugti in August 2006 and why in the last 20 years the writ of state on the large parts of Pakistan’s restive province is not to be seen. Why despite claims made by the state that acts of violence in Baluchistan are instigated by India and Afghanistan the situation on the ground is quite critical. In the first half of 2026 hundreds of people have been killed in attacks on law enforcement agencies by the banned Baluch liberation Army (BLA) and how the recent unfortunate incident in Ziarat which took the lives of several policemen exposed the writ of state. How unrest and violence in parts of AJK caused by the movement of proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) for the fulfillment of their demands like abolishing reserved seats for Kashmiri refugees from Indian held Kashmir, energy and food crisis tends to destabilize AJK and provide India an opportunity to argue that there exists widespread hatred against Islamabad. AJK is certainly a recent flashpoint reflecting popular uprising in parts of Pakistan.

Coming to a dangerous scenario in Baluchistan which is getting from bad to worse in the last few years reflect that the writ of the state is now restricted to military controlled parts including Quetta garrison. Whereas, the rest of Baluchistan is slipping from state’s........

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