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EYE ON INDIA NOVEMBER 07, 2025 | The Indian Eye 6

Pakistan Faces Twin Crises in Balochistan

and Afghanistan Amid Mounting Instability

Islamabad’s heavy-handed tactics in Balochistan and fractured policy toward Kabul expose

deepening political and military turmoil.

OUR BUREAU resolved peacefully.” This glaring
policy incoherence has highlighted
New Delhi
deep divisions within Pakistan’s lead-
akistan is facing one of its most ership over how to handle the Taliban
serious internal and external regime. The mixed messaging from
Pcrises in recent years, simul- Islamabad—part diplomacy, part in-
taneously battling growing unrest in timidation—reflects an absence of
Balochistan and escalating border strategic direction, leaving Pakistan
tensions with Afghanistan. Both flash- isolated even among its traditional
points—rooted in historical mistrust, allies.
military overreach, and policy inco- The crises in Balochistan and
herence—have exposed Islamabad’s Afghanistan are more than isolated
inability to manage dissent at home or security issues—they are symptoms
diplomacy abroad. As the twin crises of Pakistan’s deep structural malaise.
deepen, Pakistan’s image as a region- At home, decades of suppressing
al powerbroker is rapidly eroding, ethnic movements through military
replaced by perceptions of a state in means have eroded public trust. In
turmoil, trapped in its own contradic- its neighbourhood, a reliance on mil-
tions. itant proxies and coercive diplomacy
In Balochistan, the military has has backfired, producing a hostile
intensified operations under the pre- Afghanistan and strained relations
text of countering insurgents, but across South and Central Asia. Islam-
reports from local and international abad’s internal fractures—between its
media paint a far darker picture. The civilian leaders, the powerful army,
Balochistan Post recently reported and competing security agencies—
that the Pakistani army has seized have further paralyzed coherent pol-
civilian land in Zehri, Khuzdar dis- icymaking.
trict, forcing locals into hard labour For years, Pakistan’s military es-
and converting public spaces into tablishment has projected itself as the
military outposts. Large tracts of land Pakistani soldiers stand near a wrecked bus after Balochi separatist militants drove a vehicle guardian of national unity and region-
have reportedly been taken over for laden with explosives into a convoy which killed at least five (ANI file photo) al influence. Yet its heavy-handedness
new camps, with checkpoints chok- in Balochistan and its failure to man-
ing civilian movement. Residents de- Rights Commission of Pakistan have province has evolved into a full-blown age Afghanistan show the limits of
scribe being compelled to work for condemned the army’s actions, urging diplomatic crisis. Pakistan accuses the that control. The reliance on force has
the army—taken from their homes at Islamabad to halt its “excessive use of Taliban of harbouring militants from not quelled dissent—it has deepened
dawn and released only after sunset. force” and restore essential services. the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), it. The inability to reconcile domestic
The takeover of Zehri’s only hospi- For decades, Balochistan’s people responsible for a wave of deadly at- oppression with international diplo-
tal and its conversion into a military have demanded autonomy and con- tacks inside its borders. Kabul denies macy has left Pakistan fighting on two
base has worsened the humanitarian trol over local resources, but Islam- these allegations, claiming that Paki- fronts it can no longer fully control.
crisis, leaving residents without ac- abad’s response has largely been mil- stan violates Afghan sovereignty un- Caught between rebellion at
cess to basic healthcare. A pregnant itarised. The latest crackdown further der the pretext of counter-terrorism. home and confrontation abroad, Pa-
woman’s death due to lack of treat- alienates an already resentful popula- The Taliban’s retaliation across the kistan finds itself increasingly isolat-
ment earlier this month has become a tion and deepens the province’s sense Durand Line and subsequent threats ed, its credibility eroding in both re-
grim symbol of the ongoing suffering. of occupation rather than belonging. from Pakistan’s Defence Minister gional and global arenas. The crises
These operations, marked by Even as Pakistan faces inter- Khawaja Asif have only worsened in Balochistan and Afghanistan are
air and drone strikes, began in Sep- national criticism for its conduct in tensions. converging into a single truth: Islam-
tember following an armed uprising Balochistan, it is entangled in a de- Asif’s blunt warning—that Paki- abad’s decades-old playbook of coer-
by Baloch fighters who briefly took teriorating standoff with the Taliban stan “will not hesitate to strike deep cion, denial, and division is collapsing
control of the town. While Paki- regime in Afghanistan. The failure into Afghan territory” if attacks con- under its own weight. Without a shift
stan’s Inter-Services Public Relations of four-day peace talks in Istanbul— tinue—has drawn sharp global crit- toward genuine dialogue, political re-
(ISPR) has framed the campaign as mediated by Turkey and Qatar—un- icism. His remarks contradicted the form, and accountability, Pakistan’s
an anti-insurgency drive, locals al- derscored the lack of trust between conciliatory tone of Interior Minister twin fires may soon become an uncon-
lege widespread civilian casualties. Islamabad and Kabul. What began Mohsin Naqvi, who just days earli- trollable blaze—one that threatens to
Human rights groups including Am- as a dispute over alleged cross-bor- er advocated dialogue, describing consume the very foundations of the
nesty International and the Human der airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Paktika disputes as “differences that can be state itself.

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