The bomb blast that killed at least 13 people and injured 22 others at the Bismillah Hotel located along the National Highway in Dera Allahyar in the Jaffarabad district of Balochistan is tragic. Even the auspicious name of the hotel, open in the afternoon during Ramazan to serve travellers, could not prevent the loss of life of innocent people. Still greater loss could have been caused had a second bomb, attached to a gas pipeline a short distance away, not been defused.
There is something a trifle mysterious about this attack and others before it. Responsibility has reportedly been claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Tigers, yet another shadowy Baloch group to suddenly appear on the scene. A spokesman for the group has said that people marking Pakistan’s Independence Day were targeted by the explosion. This is again very odd. There is no evidence that the people travelling along the highway were in any way engaged in marking the national holiday. It is unclear if the hotel itself had put up a Pakistan flag or other emblem of celebration. The fact is, we simply do not know the truth about what is going on in Balochistan. All we know is that there is consistent violence; too much of it. But it is almost impossible to say who is behind the killings and the mayhem caused by them. Intelligence agencies have been linked to some of the atrocities in the province and there have been vague allegations that some of the ‘nationalist’ groups are in fact their creation. The possibility that the attack is not the work of a genuine nationalist force cannot be ruled out. But then it is also a fact that these groups too have been engaged in terrorism of all kinds. Balochistan at the moment represents a kind of maze through which it is hard to find a way and discover the truth. This poses enormous problems of its own. A good start would be to implement the recommendations that were made by two committees under the previous government in that they addressed both constitutional and socio-economic concerns of the people of the province.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 16th, 2011.
COMMENTS (3)
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Innocent blood in the name of liberation..shame on those who call them liberator. They are just paid killers who are working for their pockets. Liberation is a sacred cause and dont need killing people. Baloch should stand up against killings otherwise their silence will mean acceptance of killings.
. Till the time we have acceptance for the crimes and criminals these events will continue to occur. If we want to save this country, we have to show resolve to eliminate the terrorists and criminals and purged them there and then. They should be dealt by military court and disposed off summarily. We should stop getting into the niceties of the independent judiciary, which so far has played politics and acquitted and exonerated hundreds of terrorists. Balochistan is on the verge of division. Pashtuns and non Balochs are fed up with the Baloch militancy. It cannot go endless. Soon the people of the province will agitate for the British days Chief Commissioners Province which as a matter of fact showed allegiance to Pakistan and remained there till 1970 till Yayha Khan made a new province of Balochistan and annexed State of Kalat with the Chief Commissioners Province where every one was living in peace with each other. Time has come to revisit history and establish peace.
I bet the express loved that bomb blast.For all I know the bomb blast couldve been done Reymound Davis on another fake passport to punish Pakistan.