BALOCHISTAN, the so-called strategic asset that is always seemingly bleeding, has been in the news for several reasons lately. There has been, of course, the global focus on it ever since Akhtar Mansour, the Afghan Taliban leader, was killed while travelling across Balochistan. Since then, the elevation of Haibatullah Akhundzada, allegedly an event that took place in Balochistan, has sustained the interest in Pakistan’s geographically largest province. Balochistan has also been in the spotlight because of aggressive new claims by the security establishment and its allies that the province has been virtually overrun by foreign spies, from Afghanistan, India and, for now, several unnamed countries. Yet, the original security problem there – a low-level Baloch insurgency that is now the longest in the province’s history – continues. The outgoing month has been especially bloody, with losses on both sides as militants have claimed bomb and gun attacks and security forces the elimination of militants in firefights. Is there hope for Balochistan?

Perhaps the first step that needs to be taken is for the country to come out of its denial over Balochistan. Political leaders like Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti may rail against the NDS and Afghan refugees, but the IED that killed two FC personnel in Awaran and the two dead bodies of government employees recovered over the weekend from Kech occurred in areas that are hardly Afghan stamping grounds. Meanwhile, the political government in Islamabad appears to have all but given up on a political settlement in Balochistan despite the PML-N having installed its own party’s leader in the province as chief minister. The overall media, too, by its lopsided coverage of Balochistan has exacerbated the national problem of perceptions and understanding of what ails the province. With the aggressive, almost hysterical, coverage of claims of foreign interference in Balochistan in recent weeks, the disaffected Baloch may well be wondering if they were better served when their province was effectively under a national news blackout. More than ever, there is a yawning chasm between what is alleged to be taking place in Balochistan and what the swathes of the Baloch population are experiencing.

Ultimately, if the Baloch insurgency is to be brought to an end, the lead will have to be taken by the political class. The security establishment, now under three successive army chiefs spanning over a decade and a half, has demonstrated that it still sees Balochistan from a regional security prism rather than as a province with legitimate socioeconomic and political grievances. But is the political class capable or willing to take lead on Balochistan?

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2016