Pakistan's Fragile Foreign Policy: Why Mineral Deals Risk Alienating Balochistan

It stated that Islamabad's recent outreach to Washington centred on offering access to rare earth minerals, many of which are located in the volatile province of Balochistan.

According to a report by Al Jazeera, while the deal may seem to be a win-win on paper, with Pakistan attracting investment and the US gaining critical resources, the underlying reality is darker.

"Balochistan remains Pakistan's poorest province despite decades of extraction. Infrastructure projects stand underused, airports lie empty and unemployment remains stubbornly high.The Balochistan Mines and Minerals Act 2025, passed by the provincial legislature in March, has only deepened discontent. Under the act, Islamabad is formally empowered to recommend mining policies and licensing decisions in Balochistan, a move that has provoked opposition across the political spectrum," the report detailed.

"Critics argue it undermines provincial autonomy and recentralises control in Islamabad. Even right-wing religious parties, such as the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F), seldom aligned with nationalist groups, have expressed opposition, portraying the law as yet another attempt to dispossess local communities of their rightful stake in the province's resources," it added.

Emphasising that the backlash underscores a growing danger, the report said, resource exploitation without local participation fuels resentment and insurgency in Balochistan.

By inviting foreign investment in its mineral sector without social safeguards, Pakistan risks further alienating a province already scarred by conflict and militarisation--a policy that may appear as progress in Islamabad but as dispossession in Quetta.

"Taken together, these drivers show that Pakistan's foreign policy shift is less a renaissance than a calculated pivot under pressure. The Afghan vacuum, the recalibration of US-India ties and the lure of mineral diplomacy all explain Islamabad's newfound prominence. But none erases underlying fragilities. Washington may once again treat Pakistan as disposable when its priorities change. India's weight in US strategy is not going away. And Balochistan's grievances will only deepen if resource deals remain extractive and exclusionary," the report stressed.

It asserted that the acclaim in Riyadh, the visibility at the Gaza summit and the handshakes in Washington do not amount to a strategic revival for Islamabad.

"In the end, no defence pact or minerals deal can substitute for a stable social contract within Pakistan itself. That is the true renaissance Pakistan still awaits," the report noted.

- IANS