The violence in Karachi remains unchecked because, they say, it stems from a variety of causes including ethnic politics, sectarian jealousies, deeply-entrenched criminal gangs, economic disparities, foreign hand and what not.
If you control one, the others get out of hand.
About the continuing unrest in Balochistan, they say it is because of foreign interference, archaic tribal system, active sub-nationalism, sectarian strife, and intelligence agencies' manoeuvrings.
The ongoing turmoil in Fata region is largely attributed to terrorists, aggravated as it is by host of other factors like narcotics, the kidnapping-for-ransom business, and sectarian and intra-sect rivalries.
But as to why violence periodically raises its head in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, and of late has acquired deadly dimensions, is not difficult to figure out.
It is entirely sectarian-based, completely bereft of all other reasons.
The latest spike in violence in the region's principal city, Gilgit, and Karakorum Highway police checkpoint Chilas is in fact the continuation of the killing spree, set off by massacre last February when unidentified gunmen, in military uniforms, killed dozens of Shia pilgrims in the Kohistan district.
Tuesday morning, an unknown person lobbed a hand-grenade on an Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (formerly Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan) in Gilgit, triggering instant firing from a number of places.
Soon the violence spread to many other cities and towns of Gilgit-Baltistan region including Chilas where large crowds poured onto the streets, killing rivals.
By evening the death toll stood at 14 while four times of that were wounded.
Outgunned the police called in the army which is now controlling some parts of the Gilgit city as tense calm prevails in the region.
That fully conscious of the fact that the sectarian disharmony almost exclusively triggers occasional bouts of violence in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, the local and provincial authorities have not been able to come up with strong, effective counter-measures is certainly frustrating.
No doubt the imposition of curfew and the deployment of soldiers has succeeded in controlling the situation.
But that's no solution of a problem which keeps visiting the place.
The local authorities have to move with an agenda that ranges from effective policing to tough law-enforcement to the involvement of the religious leadership.
One lingering problem in the Gilgit-Baltistan issue as anywhere else in Pakistan, is the politicised police.
It is the curse of our democratic system that political governments try to have their own men in key police positions, be it at the 'thana' level or the appointment of the regional police chief.
Sometime back, the G-B government refused to transfer a police officer in order to circumvent a superior court order that shows how deep-rooted this curse is.
Then there is the issue of a gun culture.
As soon as the bang generated by the hand-grenade was heard, the entire Gilgit city resounded with intense gunfire.
Certainly the entire region is awash with weapons, and some of these must be legal - for our political masters encourage people to have guns, even of prohibited bore.
This must immediately stop.
You cannot ask others to surrender arms when you keep issuing licences.
How callous on the part of Interior Ministry which last January endorsed a proposal seeking issuance of prohibited and non-prohibited bores on the recommendations of MPs.
Even more important than the issues of depoliticising the police force and deweaponisation is the critical role the religious leaders have to play.
Here we are talking of the mortal danger to the very existence of Pakistan, the only state created in the name of Islam, at the hands of extremists who are out to kill and die for what they claim 'in the service of Islam'.
Now is the time for the religious leaders to come forward and forge a common manifesto to fight from the joint platform, the demons of religious extremism.
Given sincerity of action, there is no reason why pristine sectarian harmony is not obtained, particularly in the Gilgit-Baltistan region where the source of violence is clearly detectable.
Of course, the regional political leadership can make the religious leaders' task less arduous by depoliticising the police and deweaponisation.
Frankly, there is no option to quickly and firmly moving in that direction given the strategic geography of the Gilgit-Baltistan.
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