Operation Azm-e-Istehkam: Blood, Resistance, and the Battle for Balochistan

With the rise in the freedom struggle movement in Balochistan, Pakistan’s army has launched yet another military operation named Operation Azm-e-istehkam. This adds a new bloody chapter in Balochistan’s endless misery. While Rawalpindi presented the operation as an effort to restore security and eliminate terrorist networks, observers argued that the campaign is the outcome of political unrest and shortcomings of previous military operations in Balochistan. Human rights groups and Baloch nationalist organizations alleged that security forces use such operations to quell political dissent by causing civilian casualties, carrying out arbitrary detentions, and enforcing disappearances. Simultaneously, rising militant violence across the province provided the Pakistani state with an excuse for intensifying military action. The operation therefore highlights Pakistan’s broader dilemma in Balochistan, as the state struggles to contain escalating insurgencies while addressing deep-seated local grievances.

DECADES OF BLOODSHED: HISTORY OF MILITARY OPERATIONS IN BALOCHISTAN

Since its occupation by Pakistan, Balochistan has witnessed multiple military campaigns to subdue its nationalist freedom movement. Successive regimes relied heavily on military force to suppress separatist movements demanding greater autonomy, control over natural resources, or outright independence. The province has experienced five major insurgencies—1948, 1958–59, 1962–63, 1973–77, and the ongoing insurgency that reignited in 2004. The first military operation took place shortly after the forcible accession of the former princely state of Kalat to Pakistan in 1948. Prince Abdul Karim, brother of the Khan of Kalat, launched an armed rebellion against Pakistani occupation. Although the insurgency remained limited in scale and Pakistani forces eventually suppressed it, the rebellion laid the foundation for future Baloch nationalist movements, which viewed the accession as coercive and illegitimate.

MARTYR PRINCE ABDUL KARIM

The Pakistani military launched its second major operation in 1958–59 to suppress unrest that erupted after authorities arrested the Khan of Kalat, Mir Ahmad Yar Khan. Nawab Nauroz Khan led a tribal uprising against the state, but the military crushed the rebellion and later executed several of his followers after they surrendered. This incident further reinforced the sense of distrust towards the Pakistani state. The third major military operation was launched in the Marri and Mengal areas under Sher Mohammed Marri. In this operation the Pakistani army heavily used artillery and even air power along with ground troops. However, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government launched the largest full-scale military operation in Balochistan between 1973 and 1977.The conflict involved nearly 80,000 Pakistani troops against an estimated 50,000 insurgents. This resulted in the killing of thousands of people and large-scale displacement of local civilians to other provinces.

MARTYR NAWAB AKBAR KHAN BUGTI

The current phase of the military campaign started in 2004, which led to the killing of veteran Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti in August 2006. His death became a watershed point, transforming a localized conflict into a broader nationalist insurgency. Since then, Pakistani security forces have conducted numerous counterinsurgency operations across districts such as Awaran, Kech, Panjgur, Dera Bugti, and Kohlu. These operations targeted insurgent groups such as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), Baloch Liberation Front (BLF), and Baloch Republican Army (BRA). However, with time these organizations have now started operating under a single umbrella, pooling resources and coordinating their operations. Furthermore, Human Rights Watch reported that security forces carried out arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, and acts of torture against civilians during these operations.

OPERATION AZM-E-ISTHEKAM: A NEW CHAPTER IN THE NEVER-ENDING WAR

With the spike in armed militancy in Balochistan, the Pakistani establishment has launched Operation Azm-e-isthekam in June 2024. The name “Azm-e-isthekam” stands for “resolve for stability”, and as the name suggests, this operation was announced with the intent to bring stability through the barrel of the gun. The operation was launched under the framework of the revised National Action Plan and aimed to combat insurgent violence through intelligence-based operations and law-enforcement action. Officials argued that the operation became necessary due to the growing frequency and sophistication of attacks by Baloch insurgents. However, analysts believe this operation is just the same old wine in a new bottle. The military is trapped in a coercive cycle: aggressive crackdowns fuel public resentment, which results in armed rebellion, while political solutions stall as the state refuses to address the core issues of allegations of human rights violations and resource exploitation.

MAHRANG BALOCH

Human rights groups fear that this operation could further militarize Balochistan and intensify existing patterns of repression. They claim that security raids, arbitrary detentions, restrictions on protests, and enforced disappearances continued under the broader counterterrorism framework. The illegal detention of Baloch female human rights activist Mahrang Baloch is yet another step in the series of state-sponsored suppression in Balochistan. Due to such a heavy-handed approach, the security situation in Balochistan deteriorated sharply during 2024. The Baloch insurgent groups have carried out several large-scale attacks, causing severe casualties among security forces. Among the most significant incidents were clashes in Kalat and Operation Herof, large-scale, in August 2024 and the hijacking of the Jaffar Express train in March 2025. These attacks showcase the utter failure of Operation Azm-e-istehkam. It further reiterates that without a political reconciliation process redressing local grievances, no military operation could bring lasting peace in Balochistan.

BALOCHISTAN: A LAND OF LOST OPPORTUNITIES AND LOST LIVES

Balochistan’s instability stems from more than separatist sentiment. Many Baloch communities cite economic underdevelopment, political disenfranchisement, and longstanding grievances against the state as key factors driving the conflict. Despite possessing vast reserves of natural gas, copper, gold, and coal, the province remains Pakistan’s poorest region. Basic infrastructure, healthcare facilities, educational institutions, and employment opportunities lag far behind the rest of the country. This disparity has fueled a widespread belief among locals that while Balochistan’s resources power Pakistan’s economy, the benefits rarely reach the people who live there. The sense of alienation has been further aggravated by electoral manipulation, the dismissal of elected governments, and the concentration of key political and economic decisions in Islamabad. Even flagship projects such as Gwadar Port and the CPEC, touted as engines of prosperity, are viewed with scepticism by many locals who feel excluded from their promised benefits.

GWADAR PORT

Alongside economic and political grievances, allegations of human rights abuses have become one of the most contentious aspects of the Balochistan conflict. Over the years, families across the province have accused security agencies of forcibly disappearing students, activists, journalists, and political workers suspected of sympathizing with Baloch nationalist causes. Security agencies took many of these individuals into custody without warrants, and their families never saw them again. The issue has become so widespread that it has produced what activists describe as a generation of “half widows”—women whose husbands disappeared without any official confirmation of death, leaving them trapped between hope and uncertainty. Human rights organizations have also raised concerns about arbitrary detentions, torture, restrictions on peaceful protests, and crackdowns on groups campaigning for missing persons. These allegations have kept the issue at the center of both domestic and international human rights debates.

Among the most serious accusations leveled against Pakistan’s security establishment is their “kill and dump” policy. Families and rights groups claim that some individuals who disappeared into state custody were later found dead, often bearing signs of torture. Organizations such as Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan have repeatedly called for transparent investigations into such cases, while Pakistani authorities continue to reject allegations of any systematic policy of extrajudicial killings. These policies of oppression have deepened mistrust between the state and large sections of the Baloch population. Consequently, many observers believe that military operations alone cannot resolve the crisis. Without meaningful political dialogue, fair resource sharing, economic inclusion, and accountability for alleged abuses, peace in Balochistan is likely to remain as elusive as ever.

CONCLUSION

Operation Azm-e-Istehkam may weaken militant networks and improve security in the short term, but Balochistan’s problems run far deeper than what military action alone can solve. Decades of economic neglect, political alienation, disputes over natural resources, and persistent human rights abuses have fueled deep resentment that military force alone cannot overcome. Pakistan has launched several operations in the province over the years, yet the conflict continues to resurface in different forms. The conflict poses a difficult question: can Pakistan secure lasting peace while ignoring the grievances that many Baloch communities have voiced for generations? Unless security measures are accompanied by genuine political engagement, inclusive development, and efforts to rebuild public trust, Azm-e-Istehkam risks becoming not a turning point, but merely another chapter in Balochistan’s long and troubled history of conflict.