The Failures of Pakistan’s Hard State Approach to Balochistan

Pakistan’s escalating repression in Balochistan, particularly against the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) and other activists, has laid bare the state’s shift towards an explicitly authoritarian model—a so-called “hard state.” For the Baloch people, however, Pakistan has always been a hard state—one that has historically relied on military rule, enforced disappearances, and economic marginalization to suppress [...]