Bogus Foreign Scholarships and the Reality of Balochistan 

The so-called CM Sarfraz Bugti’s claims about sending Baloch students abroad for higher education raise the question of the actual lives of Baloch youth, who are continuously becoming victims of state atrocities. At a time when youth in Balochistan are struggling with their basic rights to life and security, political uncertainty, and a lack of basic facilities, announcements of foreign scholarships are merely a fantasy and a properly planned scam to beautify the narrative of youth development in Balochistan. But this nation has witnessed broken promises and lies from parliamentary politicians and knows their intentions of manipulation, so the state cannot win its argument merely by making claims about fantasies that do not exist in reality.

There is no record of real opportunities, transparent selection, or the number of students who have actually received those scholarships, except for the sponsored ones. The colonial state is more focused on media propaganda to show a fabricated image of their so called educational activities. One of the revelations is, a fake image of a female students having a passport at an airport posted by more than thirty accounts differently, claiming to be sent abroad for education. These fake propagandas are meant to divert the Baloch youth in some fake promises. But the reality differs and is revealed an front of Baloch nation.

This government is never genuinely committed to educating Baloch youth, and every Baloch youth should understand this chain of engagement, which is a major state-backed program to control the minds of Baloch youth, their ideological growth, and their understanding of the reality in their own homeland. Following the major claims made by puppet Sarfraz Bugti to brighten his fake image, there is no verifiable information about these scholarships: how many students have actually been sent abroad, which universities they attend, how much funding has been provided, and how these opportunities are reaching students from remote areas of Balochistan. In reality, for Baloch students, studying abroad remains a distant dream because even completing their education at home is a financial struggle, while profiling and harassment in educational institutions are other major barriers to their education. Their families make enormous sacrifices to keep them in school and university, and as they mature, most educated and intellectual youth are met with enforced disappearances, the psychological fear of becoming the next victim, or the possibility of becoming the next body dumped on the roadside. These attractive announcements benefit only the beneficiaries themselves or their helping hands.

The contradiction becomes even more disturbing when these promises of educational development are placed alongside the broader political situation in Balochistan, where Baloch families deal with the enforced disappearances of those who were even residing in state educational institutions. The treatment of politically active young people further proves the state’s concerns regarding Baloch youth.

Students who should be able to focus on their education are also living with fear, uncertainty, and the consequences of colonial rule, which has deeply affected their society. In such circumstances, this government announces scholarships and makes claims regarding international education for Baloch youth, which are most probably part of a scam.

This is where the politics of youth engagement becomes important. Scholarships, vocational training, employment schemes, and youth programs cannot provide genuine benefits, and Baloch students do not need such engagement programs that deprive them of their self-esteem. Such programs must be examined in the political atmosphere in which they are introduced. These are part of the wider soft colonial policies, which must be exposed and resisted. When the state fails to justify its colonial rule, providing luxuries and making bogus claims in the media alone become its only alternatives, highlighting its lost war in Balochistan. The wider so-called grievances of Baloch society remain unresolved, and the slogans of development and opportunities are created only to distract Baloch youth from their ideological cause.

Baloch youths must be aware of the difference between a polished state propaganda and reality. Education is essential, but Baloch youths should also understand that educational opportunities provided by the colonial state are available only when they bury their self-esteem and become obedient to the colonial force, which is culturally and morally never acceptable to a Baloch.