The so-called colonial Pakistan sponsored “Balochhstan National Workshop” in Islamabad
An Analytical Report
Recently a workshop was held in Islamabad by occupying Pakistani state on Balochistan and named it “Balochistan National Workshop”. The paid, illegitimate and so-called representative of Balochistan were called in the workshop. However this “national” doesn’t make any sense on Baloch Nation rather it’s the so-called colonial Pakistan’s term. And secondly the workshop held “Balochistan National Workshop” represents no genuine attempt to address the political question of Balochistan but rather an attempt by the Pakistani state to construct and institutionalise a particular narrative about the national liberation movement in Balochistan. Through the participation of Pakistani state officials, military representatives, policymakers, and selected people, Balochistan is presented primarily as a problem of underdevelopment, poor governance, foreign interference, and weak “national” integration, while the reality differs. The language of development, dialogue, youth empowerment, investment, and “national” unity are just a few cunning talks by the representatives of this immoral state, only showing an attempt to resolve Balochistan’s occupation conundrum. Yet this narrative deliberately shifts attention away from the central political questions: Why is Balochistan a colony? Why was the sovereignty of Balochistan snatched? And why do the Baloch demand independence and an end to this exploitation and the colonial rule of Pakistan? By defining the problem through a state-controlled framework, this so-called workshop is transforming a political question into a security and development problem, thereby producing negative propaganda about Balochistan rather than confronting its own war crimes in Balochistan.
The contradiction becomes even more evident when the workshop’s rhetoric is placed alongside the realities experienced by the Baloch. While the state speaks of its useless claims of dialogue and protection of the people, Balochistan continues to witness enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, military operations, collective punishment, and restrictions on political expression. The disappearance of Baloch women and minor children, including eight-year-old Parisa and infant Zakir, demonstrates the profound gap between the state’s language and the lived reality of many Baloch families. Similarly, the events in Surab on 12 August and the civilian casualties demonstrate why official narratives cannot simply be accepted as real. The fundamental issue is that a population living under intense militarization has repeatedly resisted the occupation and brutal policies, and the state has always tried to hide its losses through lies. When innocent civilians are martyred, young students disappear, and abuses are committed, the state treats them primarily through the language of counterterrorism, while the Baloch are resisting for their basic right to freedom. The state is trying to control not only the exercise of power but also the narrative through which that power is understood.
The state narrative also attempts to reduce Baloch resistance through different forms of propaganda. The language of development and resource-sharing similarly conceals the deeper question of political and economic control. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s statement that the people of Balochistan have the first right to benefit from their “province’s” mineral wealth doesn’t sound significant at all. Today, the Baloch are resisting for every piece of their land and every grain of their resources. The issue is not simply how much revenue is returned to Balochistan but the entire independence of Balochistan. The fundamental question is who has the authority to decide what happens to Baloch land and resources. None of the speakers and the puppet attendees sitting in this workshop will decide the fate of Balochistan. The Baloch movement and the sacrifices of our people will decide the fate of Balochistan. In the name of development, Baloch people are victimised and our resources are exploited. The same contradiction exists in Gwadar and other strategic projects, where so-called economic development is presented as evidence of integration while the Baloch continue to raise concerns about land, displacement, access to resources, and political repression. The colonial character of such policies continues to broaden the path of resistance.
As the so-called “National Workshop on Balochistan”, under the direction of the Pakistan Army Chief and Prime Minister, was held in Islamabad, people including parliamentarians and members of state-sponsored death squads took part. In this session, a grand discussion was held where Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said: “Let’s forget what happened in the past, make some policy for the future, because Pakistan’s future is tied to Balochistan, and lets move towards a Grand Dialogue.” He further emphasized “Balochistan is the soul of Pakistan and is nothing without Pakistan. The centre is only the Pakistani federation, nothing more.” He also mentioned some so-called developmental projects, including a long-running decision to double the Karachi-Quetta bloody highway. This discussion was somehow more interesting than just a debate. As Balochistan is facing long colonial domination by the Pakistani state, whose Prime Minister is now saying, “Let’s forget what happened in the past.” It is not like they are merely accepting their blunders, but rather openly claiming their brutalities. Their actions were not simply a matter of some moderate crimes, but rather a deliberate act of aggression, violence, and national genocide of the Baloch. They have killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Baloch since 1947 and have forcibly abducted hundreds of thousands of people, including students, teachers, professors, doctors, lawyers, journalists, and others. They have been involved in bombing the houses of Baloch and in the massacre of the Baloch nation. How can we forget this in just a short debate? How can these so-called developmental projects (though they haven’t been started yet) make us feel like nothing happened? This is like joking on the blood of innocent Baloch lives who have been killed by this deep state.
While Mr Shehbaz talked about dialogue but colonial Pakistan’s military chief stated to the audience with a dictating tune, threating them to conduct a heavy military operation in Balochistan and evacuation of population to have aerial bombardment in Noshki, Mastung, Makuran’s rural areas, Awaran and other areas of Balochistan. He threatened them to crush the voices for independent Balochistan with the aggressive force and would never tolerate any dialogue with the real representative of Balochistan. While dictating the participants to support these actions otherwise they would be treated as enemy. In somehow the colonial Pakistani officials blamed the Pakistan backed sardars and tribesmen of being fail to hold Pakistan’s colonial rule while praising them to be the vital rule in controlling Balochistan’s people to resist against the oppression. Earlier in previous month, the so called military spokesperson blamed these state backed sardars of being looting Balochistan while in same workshop their role was praised. These statements contradict each other, which reveals the actual truth that Balochistan is an occupied land, and Pakistani state is trying its best hypocrisy to continue the colonial rule while manipulating the public opinions on Balochistan.
Another point to be raised is that, the previous pro Pakistan’s parliamentarians like Dr Malik Baloch have lost their very credibility for colonial Pakistani state, as they have no any legitimate power in Balochistan. These pro Pakistani personals are being treated of no use and credible authority, some other puppets and paid representative have now replaced them. Those parliamentarian have been supporting Pakistani occupation over Balochistan for decades but now they have come to know that they have been used as tissue paper, as Baloch leader Balach Marri stated in early 2000s that Pakistani parliament in Balochistan is like a tissue where establishment use it and throw it.
This program was designed to engage the parliamentarians and the death squad to believe that Balochistan’s national struggle for independence is not affecting them so badly. But the reality is that it is the struggle for national liberation which has forced them to engage on a daily basis, as they are totally focusing on Balochistan. They are empowering the death squad and all those parliamentarians who are their mouthpieces. But the national struggle for liberation has made it clear before them all that our struggle for state restoration and national liberation has come to a decisive position, where now such events and sessions cannot deter the courage of the Baloch nation.
Consequently, the most serious problem with the “National Workshop” is not that it discusses the wrong subjects in isolation, but that it establishes the colonial state itself as the primary authority for defining the Baloch question, while it only knows how to create fake and bogus claims to make its public more ignorant about the ongoing situation in Balochistan. Families of disappeared persons, students, political activists, and human-rights defenders affected by military operations cannot be replaced by selected representatives participating in a state-sponsored exercise. The Pakistani state has always conducted dramas of dialogue among its puppets and then openly commits war crimes, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, collective punishment, and other coercive policies to make its colonial rule last longer. And the recent threating statement of military chief is one of those, which reveals that Pakistani state is trying to increase its atrocities in Balochistan and make it more militarized while making the puppet parliamentarian to obey this in any case.
Ultimately, the central contradiction is between the Balochistan presented inside the workshops and state-backed media and the Balochistan experienced outside it. Today, the world and the people of Pakistan itself must look at the reality in Balochistan rather than rely on the claims of officials, which are entirely fabricated and serve the interests of Pakistan. In Balochistan, Baloch families continue to demand answers about their disappeared loved ones; we question militarization and resource extraction, and political voices struggle to be heard by international organisations. No amount of conferences, speeches, or manufactured narratives can resolve a political question if the underlying conditions remain unchanged. The state of Pakistan must be held accountable for its genocidal policies after investigations by international organisations, and its free hand over Balochistan must be cut off. Such acts of organising workshops with its top officials clearly represent that the increasing resistance in the Baloch movement has compelled the state to act to create a counter-narrative and act like stupid dummies to prove its fake reputation in the media.
The Balochistan has only one demand and solution, and that is the complete independence of Balochistan and restoration of its state sovereignty.