The report calls on both provincial and federal governments to invest in human capital and reform governance
A new study has painted a detailed and sobering portrait of youth in Balochistan, revealing a generation caught between soaring aspirations and stark structural inequality, increasingly shaped by social media and shifting geopolitical currents.
The study, published in Contemporary Journal of Social Science Review and entitled “Voice of Balochistan’s Youth: Identity, Development and Geopolitical Perspectives”, was chaired by Dr. Siraj Bashir Baloch from the Department of Social Work at the University of Balochistan, Nomeen Kassi from the Department of International Relations at BUITEMS, and Dr. Farah Naseer of the Department of Sociology at Sardar Bahadur’s study and personal communication with Khan University and Khan Bahadur. youth throughout the province.
“The youth of Balochistan are not a problem to be managed, they are a resource that is being wasted,” said Dr. Baloch.
“What we found is a generation that is aware, motivated and capable, but systemically denied the conditions it needs to thrive. It’s not a crisis of youth. It’s a crisis of government.”
Facebook remained the dominant source of news and information among respondents, accounting for 62% of media consumption, well ahead of religious institutions and websites at 15%, and newspapers at just 9%.
X followed in popularity for political discourse, while Instagram carved a niche among younger and female respondents. The picture was of a generation that was digitally connected, globally aware and increasingly frustrated.
Read more: Rs16.79 billion. The RISE program aims to transform the future of youth in Balochistan
At the heart of that frustration lay a persistent gap between expectation and reality. A majority of respondents expressed deep dissatisfaction with employment opportunities, quality of education and access to health care, complaints that the researchers described as symptoms of institutional weaknesses and uneven distribution of resources embedded across the province.
Kassi, whose work focuses on international relations, emphasized the geopolitical dimension of these domestic failures. “When young people in Balochistan look outward, to China, to the United States, their perceptions are not formed in a vacuum,” she said.
“They are filtered through lived experiences of exclusion. A youth who has never benefited from development will regard any foreign actor with suspicion, and rightly so.”
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) emerged in the survey as a deeply contentious issue. Young perceptions of China were mixed: while many viewed the country as an important development partner, others remained skeptical about whether local communities were seeing real benefits.
One respondent captured this tension directly, noting that China was seen as a development partner, but that the benefits were not exactly reaching the local communities. The study recommended mandatory employment quotas of at least 80% for Baloch youth in CPEC-related projects, along with far greater transparency in contracts and community consultation.
The perception of the United States was similarly divided; some saw Washington as a gateway to education and opportunity, while others associated its regional policies with inconsistency and meddling. India, by contrast, attracted almost uniformly negative sentiment, shaped by lingering security tensions and national narratives that framed the neighboring country as a strategic threat rather than a potential partner.
Read also: Balochistan students win global award for converting banana waste into fiber
Dr. Naseer, a sociologist whose research focuses on women and marginalized communities, drew attention to what she called the study’s most underreported finding. “We keep talking about the youth of Balochistan as if they are one undifferentiated mass,” she said.
“But the data shows that female respondents have distinct platform preferences, distinct aspirations, and distinct experiences of exclusion. Any policy that doesn’t take gender into account will fail half the population before it even begins.”
Researchers warned that the rapid spread of misinformation across WhatsApp and YouTube was actively distorting how young people understood complex geopolitical and development realities. The study urged digital literacy programs to help young people in the province evaluate online content more critically, a recommendation Dr. Naseer considered inseparable from wider educational reform.
Despite the weight of these findings, the study strongly resisted a pessimistic conclusion. Youth in Balochistan were not, the authors argued, inherently prone to radicalization or instability. Their aspirations were overwhelmingly constructive, centered on education, employment and meaningful civic participation. A majority of respondents favored dialogue over force to resolve conflicts, signaling a constituency that is truly ready for peace if given a real opportunity.
Read this: Sports events, rallies held in Balochistan to bring the youth into the mainstream
“That’s the conclusion that should define any political conversation about this province,” said Dr. Baloch. “These young people are not asking for revolution. They are asking for a job, an education and a government that listens. The question is whether anyone in Islamabad or Beijing is paying attention.”
The report called on both provincial and national governments to invest in human capital, reform governance, establish formal youth councils and adopt district-specific development plans tailored to local realities.
It also addressed China directly, calling for investment in social infrastructure, schools, clinics, water supply, along with major physical projects, and the creation of dedicated scholarships and exchange programs for Baloch youth.
“CPEC can still be a story of shared prosperity,” Kassi concluded. “But right now, for too many young people in Balochistan, it sounds like a story written by others, about a future that somehow never arrives for them.”
