Baloch youth optimistic despite systematic inequalities and uncertainties
Islamabad – The youth of Balochistan remain hopeful about their future and deeply value education as a pathway to progress despite facing systemic inequities and uncertainties about career prospects.
While the youth maintain a positive outlook in contrast to Balochistan’s traditional and often discriminatory social norms, their perceptions of external threats and growing reliance on social media reflect the province’s conflict-driven narrative and digital vulnerabilities.
These findings were highlighted in a report titled “The Balochistan Youth Lense: Envisioning a Tolerant Pakistan”, released by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), an Islamabad-based think-tank focusing peace, harmony, and countering violent extremism.
The study, based on workshops and surveys with students from universities, colleges and religious seminaries in the province, notes that 82% of young people perceive intolerance as prevalent in society, attributing it primarily to political and social factors.
73% believe that interfaith dialogue can improve communal harmony, and an equal proportion considers that peaceful coexistence among different communities is possible.
The research underlines that social media is the key factor, which is helping the Baloch youth to shape up their minds and views. It identified that 94% use social media primarily as a source of information, but to the surprise of many, 85% reported verifying content before sharing.
89% saw social media as an effective platform for exposing faith-based violence but 78% noted its role in spreading extremism. Western media was widely perceived as running defamatory campaigns against Pakistan.
A vast majority (89%) of young minds expressed optimism about their future, with unanimous agreement that “education provides skills for a respectable career”. However, only 50% reported clarity about their career path, and just 56% believed merit is valued in society.
Participants demonstrated high levels of critical thinking (100%) and commitment to human rights (89%), though awareness of constitutional freedoms was limited (67%), and only 55% felt that schools adequately teach fundamental rights.
A significant proportion viewed India as the greatest threat (67%) and an “eternal enemy” (66%), with 78% attributing domestic extremism to foreign conspiracies. Ethnic and cultural understanding was seen as vital to national unity.
The report put forward some urgent recommendations for policymakers. It recommended expanding career counselling services and integrating civic and rights education in schools of Balochistan to create merit-based opportunities for youth to build an informed and resilient society.
It called for promoting interfaith and gender equality initiatives at the community level, while fostering dialogue and trust-building to strengthen social harmony and national cohesion.
Highlighting the need for digital literacy, the report suggested countering disinformation and extremism by advancing responsible digital literacy programmes to safeguard peace and stability in the long term.