On June 12, 2025, the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) launched a Balochistan Studies Project, which appointed Mir Yar Baloch as the “Special Advisor”, an organisation run by a former Israeli intelligence officer, Yigal Carmon and an Israeli, Meyrav Wurmser. All this scholarly pretence is a mask that covers a well-orchestrated effort to destabilise Pakistan. The project, which is being funded and facilitated by India and has Israeli involvement, is one such example of how research is being weaponised in the interests of hybrid warfare.
The role that is played by India towards fomenting unrest in Balochistan is well documented. Whether it is the funding of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) to the direct implication of RAW with the separatist movements, India has a long-term approach to fragment Pakistan internally. The arrest and confession of the Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav merely proved what Pakistan had been claiming for a long time. It is another anti-Pakistan agenda by India, this time through the mask of academic cooperation, as Pakistan believes that India has been underpinning the anti-Pakistan movement.
The possible geopolitical interference with the use of think tanks is also signified by the engagement of MEMRI.
The entry of a rogue and terrorist state responsible for its war crimes in Gaza to this disinformation project is not incidental. Both India and Israel are countries with some history of oppression and information warfare as an instrument of statecraft. They seek to disrupt unity on the national level internally and stall such strategic developments as CPEC by also propagating separatism in Pakistan and specifically in Balochistan. Israel comes with its well-developed propaganda machine. In collaboration with India, it strives to popularise the anti-Pakistan discourse as it gains legitimacy under the disguise of academic studies and pays no attention to the development on the ground and the desire of the people of Balochistan.
The so-called advisor to the MEMRI project, Mir Yar Baloch, is regarded by a large population as a digital creation or a foreign-controlled asset. On his list of achievements are his open support of BLA, pro-Indian rhetoric and proclamation of independence in times of national tragedies; these are typical methods of psychological and information warfare. His appointment demonstrates the actual purpose of the project: to amplify extremist voices, paint Pakistan as a failing state and give some noise to the false report on oppression on an international scale.
The possible geopolitical interference with the use of think tanks is also signified by the engagement of MEMRI. It is not research, but rather reconnaissance. MEMRI and its partners do not work to resolve conflict; however, by studying ethnic grievances, the organisation hopes to use conflict as a resource. They pick on dissent and mention nothing at all of the local democratic processes, development work and state interaction with Baloch communities. And the purpose of their academic research and investigations is only to create division, cast doubt on the right of Pakistan to exist, and undermine it globally.
This is an archetypical example of fifth-generation warfare. The battlefield is not in the physical domain; it is in the cognitive domain. What Pakistan is facing is not only an attack on the ground but also on the mind using screens, reports and skewed content dressed up as research. Pakistan should address this by publicising these sinister campaigns on international platforms, fortifying its cyberspace and building trust at the local level through inclusive growth and communication.
The destabilisation of Balochistan by Indo-Israeli agents and other identifying tools such as MEMRI and Mir Yar Baloch is a bigger game of dividing Pakistan internally. Yet it will not work. Balochistan’s people have always opposed foreign stooges and reified their loyalty to the federation. The unity of Pakistan is its biggest asset, and the ability to distinguish between the real grievances and the anti-national resentment promoted by foreigners. Like never before, our potent defence, as the hybrid war is heating up, will be national solidarity and informed vigilance.
The writer is an alumnus of QAU, MPhil scholar & a freelance columnist based in Islamabad. He can be reached at [email protected].