Unfulfilled Promises & Lies

More than a year ago, Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces [CDF] Field Marshal Asim Munir told a cheering group of Pakistanis how he would beat the hell of Baloch fighters “very soon.” More than a year has since elapsed but rather than improving, things have taken a turn for the worse. And this is why media reports of the CDF issuing a 72-hour ultimatum to his top military commanders and intelligence officials to either “control Balochistan or pack-up” indicates that performance of the Pakistan army and intelligence agencies in Balochistan has been inordinately unsatisfactory.
The utterance of a failed field marshal also exposes two ground realities that the Pakistan army has been trying to conceal through disinformation that Baloch fighters are proxies creating unrest at the behest of India and they are hated by locals. The undeniable fact is that despite being targeted by heavy artillery, armed drones and attack helicopters, Baloch fighters are still putting up stiff resistance against overwhelming odds with extraordinary tenacity-a testimony to their commitment against illegal occupation by Pakistan.
It’s also pertinent to note that Baloch sarmachars [guerrillas] are not waging jihad [Holy War] but a war for independence and hence their motivation is not rewards promised in afterlife but liberation of their land and its people. Secondly, failure of intelligence agencies to obtain actionable information and thwart large scale attacks involving a large number of fighters like Operation Herof 2 and Jaffar Express hijacking proves that armed Baloch groups enjoy immense popular support.

Balochistan Crisis

The freedom struggle in Balochistan has been going on since its illegal occupation in 1948. More than two decades ago, Gen Pervez Musharraf threatened armed Baloch groups saying, [Don’t push us… This time you won’t even know what hit you.” However, despite giving the army and other agencies [including its vigilante death squads] a free hand to brutalise, abduct and extra-judicially execute innocent people, determination of the Baloch people to achieve independence endured.
Field Marshal Munir obviously didn’t learn any lesson from Gen Musharraf’s over-confidence and hence like him has made a laughing stock of himself. Probably he thought that could bring things under control using a three pronged stratagem- use devastating military force against armed groups, terrorise locals by orchestrating widespread enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings and, three, making the peaceful rights campaign ineffective by using the judiciary to jail its leadership.
That the self-appointed field marshal’s grand plan to beat the hell out of Baloch groups would end in a damp squib was expected all along. Islamabad-based research and advocacy organisation Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies [PIPS] in its Pakistan Security Report 2025 has mentioned that as compared to 2024, Balochistan witnessed a 30 percentage increase in attacks by Baloch armed groups and a 26 percent increase in fatalities- a poor report cart for Field Marshal Munir,
Resultantly, even though shifting blame for failure on subordinates is not a done thing in any army, the severely embarrassed CDF had no other choice but to issue the 72-hour ‘perform or pack-up’ ultimatum to his own brother-in-arms. And Balochistan isn’t the only huge black eye for him- while his army is yet to get the upper hand in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [KP], New Delhi continues to hold the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance despite his high-decibel warnings and dire threats.

Heeding Advice

The Pakistan army would like the world to believe that violence in Balochistan is being orchestrated by a handful of armed groups sponsored by India, and to strengthen its unsubstantiated claim even refers to them as Fitna-al-Hindustan [curse of India]. However, leave alone the international community, even discerning people in Pakistan don’t quite believe that loyalty of an entire people could be subverted by a third country.
Contrary to the CDF’s assertion that Balochistan is purely the product of India’s nefarious designs, the PIPS report contains some seminal observations on this issue, like:
Resolving the conflict in Balochistan requires comprehensive political dialogue, socioeconomic reforms, and efforts to address grievances and rebuild trust.
Winning public trust is crucial to reducing the appeal of insurgent ideologies among the Baloch people.
The issue of enforced disappearances, often exploited by insurgents to gain support and recruits, must be addressed through a lawful and amicable policy to counter militant narratives effectively.
Pakistan must introduce employment opportunities for youth to improve their living conditions and prevent them from being drawn toward militancy and insurgency.
As the socio economic trickle down impact of mega development projects for masses in Balochistan has been minimum so far, Pakistan needs to make sure that people in the province start reaping the benefits of big projects as soon as possible.
Under Field Marshal Munir’s charge, Pakistan is not only experiencing an unprecedented crisis in both KP and Balochistan but is also in a state of war with Afghanistan. The sooner he realises that military force alone cannot bring about normalcy, the better it would be for him as well as the people of Pakistan.

Email:--------------nileshkunwar56@gmail.com