August 21, 2026
QUETTA
Muhammad Javed sits broken-hearted looking at a picture of his 26-year-old son, Muhammad Sadiq. The hands that helped raise his son are now so frail they can barely hold the photograph itself. Earlier this year, on January 31, Sadiq lost his life, caught in the crossfire of a gun battle between armed assailants and security forces in Quetta.
For Javed, a retired employee of the Pakistan Railways, Sadiq was not only a beloved son, he was also the sole provider for the family, and his sudden demise plunged the entire household into financial hardship.
After the tragedy, Chief Minister of Balochistan, Mir Sarfaraz Bugti visited the family to offer condolences, and promised a government job to Javed’s second son so that the family could have an income.
Months have passed however, and the minister’s promise remains unfulfilled, leaving a grieving father to endlessly pace the corridors of government offices.
“CM Sarfaraz Bugti, ordered that my son be issued appointment orders within a week,” says the elderly man. “But those orders never came. My son Sadiq is gone; He was the provider. I am a retired man, and a single person’s income isn’t enough to run the household. Later, when the commission officials called us they said, ‘Go to the CM; we don’t have an answer, only he can issue your order.’ I visited the Chief Minister’s House two or three times, but we were not even allowed inside, and were told that the CM was not there. My only appeal to the CM now is to issue my son’s orders; survival has become extremely difficult.” Addressing the Chief Minister he pleads, “I ask you… look at your home… my only breadwinner was Muhammad Sadiq, but he was martyred.”
Terrorism on the rise
According to a report by the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), the second quarter of the year saw a slight 5% decrease in overall violent incidents and casualties across Pakistan. However, a staggering 96% of these violent events remained concentrated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Within Balochistan, 60% of all incidents were concentrated in five districts: Quetta, Chagai, Washuk, Kech, and Gwadar—with fresh incidents in Hanna Urak, Ziarat, and other areas occurring after the report was compiled.
Balochistan’s Home Minister, Mir Ziaullah Langau, maintains that hostile foreign forces are driving the unrest in the province, assuring that full support is being extended to the families of victims.