Balochistan: Talons of crime

http://www.thenews.com.pk/

The breakdown of law and order in Balochistan has created what seems to be a perpetual state of chaos in the province. On the one hand it is not hard to understand the action of doctors in Quetta, who have stayed away from Out Patient Departments in hospitals across the city since Dr Munaf Tareen, a prominent cardiologist, was abducted on September 17. On the other hand, we must also sympathise with the people affected by the doctors’ strike and left without the care they are entitled to. Dr Munaf has now been recovered from Lasbela, reportedly after the payment of a sizeable sum in ransom. He had suffered bullet wounds when he was taken away and will require treatment in Karachi. The Pakistan Medical Association chapter in Quetta has made it clear it will not be calling off its strike even now that Dr Munaf is back. Its office-bearers have stressed that the strike was always intended to highlight the threat faced by all doctors, and not for Dr Munaf alone. Others before him have been abducted and recovered only after ransom payments. The story of Dr Munaf and his colleagues highlights the dismal state of law and order in our country. Many key professionals, notably doctors and teachers, have already left Balochistan because of the threats they face. Others will undoubtedly follow, and this can only hurt people who themselves can do nothing to improve the situation. It seems the authorities too are helpless; in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa too doctors have been protesting abduction and extortion. The state must decide how it can help people escape from the talons of cruelty and crime and restore something resembling order in our society.