Pakistan: Attack in Sibi

Balochistan is witness to regular waves of violence. That blood is shed because of genuine grievances is news that should not come as a source of surprise to anyone familiar with the situation in the province. The latest incident was a remote-controlled bomb attack targeting a vehicle belonging to security personnel in the town of Sibi. The explosion killed one passerby and injured as many as 27 others although no one from the Balochistan Levies was hurt in the attack. Sibi lies on the main highway and railway lines, is the nearest town to the Marri and Bugti tribal areas and is also close to the Sui gas fields. The area is a conglomeration of communication and infrastructure lines. The attack itself was not a massive one when compared to previous episodes but it has jolted the complacent public into, once again, re-examining the problem in Balochistan and the sentiments being harboured by the Baloch insurgents.

Despite last year’s elections and the appointment of Abdul Malik Baloch as the Chief Minister (CM) of Balochistan, a man known as a moderate nationalist from whom the people held high hopes, the people of Balochistan have yet to see their grievances being addressed and the insurgents brought to the negotiating table. Mr Baloch has, sadly, been relegated to the status of mere ‘mayor’ of Quetta because he has been unable to do anything substantial to curb the rising nationalist tide engulfing Balochistan. This attack in Sibi is just a relatively mild example of this. Nothing has changed. No one has taken the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) to task for the deeply held suspicions that it is behind the missing persons and kill and dump policy being practiced with abandon in the province. Take, for example, the mass graves discovered in Khuzdar district in Balochistan. Bullet-riddled bodies do not just appear out of thin air; someone must have put them there and the Baloch accuse the FC.

This has been happening for years. The biggest, most resource-rich province in Pakistan is being subjected to mammoth atrocities whilst the people are kept underprivileged and deprived. No wonder the nationalists have always had a bone to pick with the government and the security forces. However, their sentiments have taken on a violent tinge after no political solution has been offered to them. What is the government waiting for? Does it not know that when such sentiments are allowed to fester, any third party, including a foreign one, may support separation — all those resources and the geostrategic location of Balochistan could prove extremely tempting. The new generation of nationalists will not beat around the bush. It is time to bring them into the fold of political negotiations. The costs to the country are too great to ignore their grievances.