Balochistan; Who Cares?

The violence that has engulfed Balochistan is a two head hydra; justification for violence is grounded in truncated religious indoctrination and exploiting the feeling of marginalisation that prevails among the people. While the tactics of both kinds of militancy are different, ordinary people of the province bear the costs.

In the latest suicide attack, in Quetta’s high-security zone, DIG along with two policemen succumbed to the injuries. Though no militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far, the nature of suicide attack shows that an armed religious organisation carried it. The weak law and order situation in the province raises many questions in one’s mind; will we ever see a peaceful and stable Balochistan in our lifetime? Will the state ever accept its failures in Balochistan rather than blaming other countries for the unrest in the province?

Whatever happens there remains there. The unrest has hardly disturbed the iota of consciousness of the rest of the country’s population. The ongoing conflict is a result of extensive problems that the region is facing. These issues need remedies of different nature. Reliance on military operations for solving the unrest has only exacerbated the worsening of law and order situation in the region.

The military operation that is going in the province since 2006 without allowing any political solution is the reason the state has failed to counter militancy in the area. Even the argument that external forces are behind the chaos in the area is a reflection of state’s failures.

In the present situation, the least the state can do is to bring the nationalists, who are fighting against the country, to a dialogue-table. Unfortunately, the state has failed in feeling the mood of the people of the province. The harsh reality is that a majority of the Baloch population has lost faith in government's seriousness to restore the peace of the region. The murky security situation in the province demands a radical solution.

It is time tested that military operations on their own cannot generate the desired results of ensuring law and order situation. It has almost achieved the status of a cliché to suggest that fighting militancy through force is only one dimension of finding peace. Political dialogue is the other side of the solution. Both combined can extinguish the flames of insurgency that has paralysed the province. Sole reliance on brute force cannot guarantee an enduring normalcy to the bleeding Balochistan.