BALOCHISTAN is Pakistan’s largest province, covering 43.6% of the country’s landmass. It shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran and has a 750-kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea, close to the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most vital maritime corridors. Despite accounting for only about 5.94% of Pakistan’s population, the province is exceptionally rich in natural resources, including oil, gas, copper, coal, chromite and marble.

Major energy reserves are found in areas such as Sui, Bolan and Kohlu, with Balochistan supplying a significant share of Pakistan’s gas needs. Yet the contradiction is stark: only 20 of the province’s 34 districts have access to gas. In some cases, communities living just four kilometres from the Sui gas fields remain without this basic facility. Despite its immense wealth, around 85% of the province’s villages remain trapped in poverty and neglect. For 78 years, Balochistan has struggled to translate its natural wealth into broad-based prosperity. Pakistan’s economic future is, therefore, closely linked to the province’s development. If its resources were managed transparently and utilized effectively, they could transform not only Balochistan but the socioeconomic fabric of the entire country.

Why, then, does the province continue to struggle? External actors, including India, have exploited internal grievances to fuel instability, but the failure of local leadership must also be examined. The traditional Sardari or tribal system has, in many ways, constrained political and social development. Its roots lie partly in the........

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