Salman Khan’s up on stage at the Joy Forum 2025 in Riyadh, rubbing shoulders with SRK and Aamir, basically Bollywood royalty in the house.
While chatting about how South Asians have pretty much set up camp in the Middle East, Salman drops this line that made the internet lose its collective mind: he starts listing communities and goes, “There are people from Balochistan, there are people from Afghanistan, there are people from Pakistan… everyone is working here.”
Thank you Salman Khan. Balochistan wasn’t, isn’t and will never be 🇵🇰. pic.twitter.com/c0KBsJA4ca
— Fazal Afghan (@fhzadran) October 19, 2025
Cue the social media circus. The clip pops up everywhere, and suddenly everyone’s playing detective. Was it a slip? Did he just accidentally say what he really thinks? Or is he sending some undercover political message?
What did the Internet say?
A renowned journalist also posted on X, writing, “I don’t know if it was slip of tongue, but this is amazing! Salman Khan separates ‘people of Balochistan’ from ‘people of Pakistan’.”
Someone else chimes in: “Slip of tongue from Salman Khan or lack of knowledge or deliberate hint that Balochistan is ‘independent’? That too with Aamir Khan & SRK on dais?” Honestly, it’s got all the makings of a conspiracy theory starter pack.
The debate just snowballs from there was he clueless, or was he making a point? Some think he just fumbled his words. Others are convinced it’s a little wink to the whole Balochistan identity issue, especially with all those big Bollywood names watching.
Now, one of the supporters of the Baloch, tweeted, “When Salman Khan said ‘Balochistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan…’ it speaks volumes. Balochistan isn’t just some Pakistani province, it’s a nation. Baloch is our identity and our state.”
Meanwhile, folks from Baloch seem to take it as validation. One post flat-out said, “Even Salman Khan admitted that Balochistan is a separate country.” I mean, sure, if a Bollywood actor says it, it must be true, right? (Okay, bit of sarcasm there.)
Balochistan’s had a rough ride. It’s Pakistan’s biggest province but also kind of the country’s problem child, with a long history of unrest and a pretty loud push for autonomy. The government blames a handful of tribal leaders for the issues, but a bunch of Baloch people still don’t feel like they fit in with the rest of Pakistan.
