Quetta, August 21, 2026: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said the people of Balochistan would have the first right to benefit from the province’s vast mineral wealth, stressing that substantial investment, expertise and resources were needed to extract its metals and minerals and turn them into economic opportunities.
Addressing the closing ceremony of the Balochistan National Workshop in Quetta, attended by senior government officials, local notables and religious leaders, the prime minister described Balochistan as one of Pakistan’s richest provinces in terms of natural resources, while acknowledging the significant challenges involved in developing its vast and geographically dispersed territory.
“Today, if I were to say that Balochistan is Pakistan’s richest province, I wouldn’t be wrong. But our precious metals and minerals are still buried under mountains in massive quantities,” PM Shehbaz said.
He stressed that the province’s natural resources belonged first and foremost to its people, regardless of their region or district.
“There should be no doubt that this is the wealth of the people of Balochistan, whether they are from Makran, Lasbela, Chaman or any other area,” he said.
The prime minister said the key challenge was to develop the capacity and attract the investment required to extract these resources.
“To ensure that, we will need investment to extract that wealth from the mountains and waters,” he said. “We need expertise, we need the means.”
He emphasised that the federal and Balochistan governments would have to work together to ensure that the benefits of resource development reached the province’s people first and subsequently contributed to national prosperity.
“Balochistan and the federal government need to work together to bring this wealth to the people of Balochistan first, and then to the people of Pakistan,” he said.
PM Shehbaz also highlighted the province’s longstanding development challenges, particularly in education, healthcare, road infrastructure and connectivity.
He noted that Balochistan’s enormous geographical area made the provision of public services considerably more difficult.
“The biggest thing is that geographically, you are the largest province. If people need to head to different areas, if they need education, if hospitals and roads need to be built, then providing the means is a genuine challenge,” he said.
The prime minister said such challenges could not be addressed through confrontation and instead required consensus, dialogue and an equitable distribution of available resources.
“So how do we solve these issues? Through mutual consensus and the fair distribution of the available resources so that all provinces benefit,” he said. “If there are challenges, they need to be resolved through mutual dialogue.”
The prime minister also condemned violence and terrorism in Balochistan, saying no Pakistani could seek solutions to political or economic grievances through violence.
He referred to attacks on people who had travelled to Balochistan from other parts of the country for employment and economic opportunities, saying some had been targeted and killed on the basis of their ethnicity or place of origin.
“As far as terrorism in Balochistan is concerned, there is no doubt Fitna al Khawarij are benefiting from hostile nations and martyring the innocent,” PM Shehbaz said, using the state’s terminology for terrorist groups.
He paid tribute to the security forces and law enforcement agencies for their counterterrorism efforts, saying they were continuing operations despite heavy sacrifices.
“Security forces and law-enforcing agencies are fighting them day and night,” he said. “They have kept hundreds of millions of children safe at the expense of their lives. We must never forget this sacrifice.”
Earlier on Friday, Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir also addressed the security and development challenges facing Balochistan during an interaction with the province’s political leadership.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Field Marshal Munir said foreign-sponsored proxies were being employed by hostile elements to destabilise Balochistan, obstruct development and create a divide between the state and its people.
He underscored that “the present and the future of Balochistan and Pakistan are one and forever”, according to the military’s media wing.
Balochistan has some of Pakistan’s most significant undeveloped deposits of copper, gold, chromite, antimony and potentially rare earth elements, giving the province considerable potential to become a major contributor to the country’s mining and export sectors.
The province is also home to Reko Diq, one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits. The multibillion-dollar mining project is jointly owned by the governments of Pakistan and Balochistan and Barrick Mining Corporation, with production expected to begin by the end of 2028.
The government has increasingly highlighted mineral development as a potential source of investment, exports, employment and economic growth, while stressing the need for local participation and benefits.
The prime minister’s remarks come amid a sharp deterioration in Balochistan’s security situation.
According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), Balochistan recorded a significant rise in violence in July, with the overall death toll increasing by 241 per cent to 372 from 109 in June.
The number of security personnel killed rose from six in June to 62 in July, while reported terrorist deaths increased from 75 to 238. Civilian fatalities also increased from 28 to 54, while 18 members of peace committees were killed during the month.
Against this backdrop, the government has sought to link economic development, improved public services and security with efforts to integrate Balochistan more closely into Pakistan’s broader economic transformation.
PM Shehbaz’s emphasis on giving the people of Balochistan the first right to benefit from their natural resources is likely to remain central to efforts to build greater public confidence in the province’s emerging mining and development projects.
