‘Silp of tongue or lack of knowledge?’ Salman Khan’s Balochistan remark triggers online debate | VIDEO

Actor Salman Khan stirred a social-media controversy after mentioning ‘Balochistan’ and ‘Pakistan’ separately while discussing expatriate communities in the Middle East. The comment came during the Joy Forum 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he appeared with fellow Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan.

In the viral clip, he said, “Right now, if you make a Hindi film and release it here (in Saudi Arabia), it will be a superhit. If you make a Tamil, Telugu, or Malayali film, it will do hundreds of crores in business because so many people from other countries have come here. There are people from Balochistan, there are people from Afghanistan, there are people from Pakistan… everyone is working here.”

What has the reaction been ?

The clip quickly went viral and sparked debate on social media about whether Khan’s phrasing was a deliberate political statement or simply a slip of the tongue.

Journalist Smita Prakash tweeted, “I don’t know if it was slip of tongue, but this is amazing! Salman Khan separates ‘people of Balochistan’ from ‘people of Pakistan’.”

One X user asked, “Slip of tongue from Salman Khan or lack of knowledge or deliberate hint that Balochistan is ‘independent’? That too with Aamir Khan & SRK on dias?”

Yet others defended Khan, “When @BeingSalmanKhan said ‘Balochistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan…’ — it speaks volumes. Balochistan is not a Pakistani province — it’s a nation. Baloch is our identity and our state,” wrote one user.

“Even Salman Khan admitted that Balochistan is a separate country,” added another.

Another user took a lighter view: “We really shouldn’t expect geopolitical precision from Bollywood.”

As of now, neither Salman Khan nor his team has issued a formal clarification.

Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province and a key region in the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor. The region also forms part of a broader ethnically Baloch area that spans across Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, and has experienced long-running insurgency and calls for autonomy.

On the work front, Salman Khan is reported to be shooting a war film titled 'Battle of Galwan', with heightened security measures reportedly in place for the production.