ISLAMABAD: Chief Minister Sardar Sarfraz Bugti said on Thursday an intensifying separatist insurgency in the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan was being bolstered by “state patronage” from Afghanistan, rejecting that the movement was a “struggle for rights.”

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest and most resource-rich but poorest province, has for decades battled a separatist insurgency, with rebel groups accusing Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural wealth and failing to provide jobs, health care and education to locals. Pakistani authorities reject these claims, saying they are investing billions of dollars in infrastructure, health and development initiatives in the province.

But militant attacks have intensified in recent months, targeting security forces and infrastructure, including Chinese-backed projects. In one of the most brazen assaults earlier this year, the Balochistan Liberation Army hijacked a passenger train carrying over 350 people and held them hostage for about 36 hours before the military rescued them. The army said 31 soldiers, railway staff and civilians were killed.

In August last year, at least 73 people were killed when separatist militants attacked police stations, railway lines and highways in a highly-coordinated assault and security forces launched retaliatory operations. Most recently, seven Pakistan army soldiers were killed on May 6 when their vehicle was targeted by an improvised explosive device.

Bugti dismissed the claim that such violence represented a struggle for rights.

“This is not a national war, nor a struggle for rights,” he said. “It is a futile conflict, and the only ones suffering are the Baloch themselves.”

Bugti acknowledged that uneven development in Balochistan and poor governance and corruption had helped insurgents gain ground but said external backing from Pakistan’s enemies, particularly support from within Afghanistan, was bolstering separatists. 

“Our insurgents are living in Afghanistan under state patronage,” the CM said.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan has repeatedly dismissed Pakistani accusations that it was allowing its territory to be used by militants or that it supported any insurgent movements. It says Pakistan’s security problems are a domestic issue. 

Bugti said another factor helping militants was public sympathy and legitimacy provided by civil society groups like the Baloch Yakjehti Council. The BYC has held several protests in Balochistan and marches to the federal capital, Islamabad, in recent years, putting the spotlight on issues like human rights abuses in the province as well as extrajudicial killings and detentions, which the state denies. The Pakistan army has previously called the civil rights movement a “terrorist proxy.”

“Insurgents need mouthpieces, they need legitimate voices from society,” Bugti said, predicting that the insurgency would dissipate.

“What happened with the Kurds in Türkiye after 40 long years is also where these groups will end up too.”

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) group, which has been locked in bloody conflict with the Turkish state for more than four decades, announced earlier this week it would disband and end its armed struggle.

The development followed a call from the group’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan, who urged the PKK to cease its armed struggle and pursue Kurdish rights through democratic means.