Background and Structure of Youth Engagement as a Colonial Policy Framework
Report

Colonial structures have always tried to engage the colonized youth in order to distract them from their national or revolutionary cause being carried by them against the colonizer. The policy of engagement by the colonizer is an attempt to engage the youth in other activities through which distraction is created in the minds of the colonised who will never think of the resistance or injustices being practiced upon them by the colonizer. The policy of youth engagement by the colonizer is one of the main counterinsurgency policies being practiced. This counterinsurgency policy can be applied in different forms, where sports, job creation, programs and summits are some such mediums through which the engagement policy is being practiced.
Likewise, the puppet government of Balochistan under the military rule of Pakistan has initiated a policy to engage the youth of Balochistan through different mediums in order to distract the Baloch youth from the national liberation struggle. The Government of Balochistan directs this policy of youth engagement through the “Directorate of Youth Affairs Balochistan,” under the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs of the Government of Balochistan.

Background:
The policy of youth engagement in colonial Pakistan dates back to 1984 when the Department of Culture and Sports created a Youth Wing with the purpose of identifying the potential of youth and engaging them through various sources, but its operational ability was limited and functioned with a minor approach. A Ministry of Youth Affairs was established in 2005, but its functionaries were still limited and the practice of youth engagement through a colonial perspective was yet to be practiced. Another major development came in 2008, when the Federal Ministry for Youth Affairs established the “Balochistan Youth Development Centre” in Quetta. It was intended to provide debating facilities, indoor games and more youth interaction. However, this center remained inactive through the period.
After the 18th Constitutional Amendment of Pakistan, the responsibility for youth affairs shifted to the province from federal structures. This fundamentally changed Balochistan’s position in youth affairs. This was the period when the struggle for independence of Balochistan had accelerated, every corner of Balochistan was affected by this struggle, and the participation of Baloch people, particularly youth, had increased. Colonial Pakistan’s atrocities have affected every family, and its major policy for counterinsurgency was a deterrence policy. The involvement of youth could not be stopped merely with deterrence policy because the struggle for independence was an ideological one, where educated youth were fighting for the independent homeland.
Pakistani administrative bodies have known this reality and tried to counter the insurgency with another policy. A draft was written titled “Balochistan Youth Policy 2015,” which gave the policy for the engagement of the youth of Balochistan, with the pretext of distracting the Baloch youth from the insurgency and encouraging them to join the government institutions. This draft consisted of the framework for the Department of Youth Affairs and the idea to engage the politically active Baloch youth in colonial government programs. However, this draft only remained a draft and was not practiced by the Government so far.
After the formation of a new Government in 2024, the concept of good governance came forward and the government began to initiate and decide its policies accordingly. Thus, initiating the “Balochistan Youth Policy 2024,” the primary objective of the policy was to counter the insurgency in Balochistan and it was part of the broader counterinsurgency policy. The youth of Balochistan have known their rights and are participating en masse in the Revolution for Free Balochistan. The participation of youth in the insurgency is one of the major problems for colonial Pakistan to counter the insurgency. The formation of the Balochistan Youth Policy is backed by the barbaric Pakistani army, and it is being practiced by the Government of Balochistan with the Pakistani Army being the major implementer and policy maker of the program.

Structure of Youth Affairs:
The colonial administrative body has to organize and run its Army-backed colonial Youth Engagement Policy on Baloch youth. Its structural setup is directly under the puppet Chief Minister of Balochistan, Sarfraz Bugti. Under the puppet Balochistan government comes the Department of “Sports and Youth Affairs,” whose advisor is Meena Majeed and whose secretary is Durra Baloch. A sub-department of Sports and Youth Affairs named the “Directorate of Youth Affairs” is the department directly responsible for implementing and making policies regarding the engagement of youth. Ilyas Baloch is the director of Youth Affairs, who oversees the department and works under the supervision of Sarfraz Bugti, Meena Majeed and Jamal Rasani.
Through the provincial departments, its policies and programs are organised and designed and are practiced through district-level youth administrative bodies, presided over by youth development officers. Further, in districts, youth councils and groups are made to make the implementation of colonial policies more effective. The structure of the department helps to implement the colonial policy with ease, and the involvement of the army in district-level programs would go unnoticed as they are not directly involved in the structure, but in every district its policies, programs and finances are generated through Army-backed facilities.
The Youth Affairs department is further divided into units through which the implementation process is executed; these include:
• Balochistan Youth Development Commission
• Youth Policy Development Commission
• District Youth Development Committees
Through these different units the implementation is executed and every program or policy made from the military-backed center is implemented through different units, where each different unit has a different area of coverage.

Conclusion:
Youth engagement is a colonial tactic through which the youth of the colonial societies are engaged through different means. These policies and practices are used to construct a youth whose mind and thoughts are perished from the National Liberation Movement, and the colonial mindset of Pakistan is being implemented upon their minds. This distraction of the youth’s mind is a major colonial tactic through which the minds of youth are corrupted, and the youth are distracted from their nation, national responsibilities, and the national cause.
The military-backed government of Balochistan led by murderous Sarfraz Bugti has tried to sabotage the National Liberation Movement of Balochistan by engaging the youth in colonial programs. The only purpose it serves is the distraction of youth from the national cause, and it works for the colonial administration.