Frightening fires

The reign of death in Balochistan cannot be allowed to continue. Control has to be regained but hard to say how.

The different kinds of violence that afflict Balochistan appear to have metamorphosed to assume different forms and proportions with each tragedy that strikes that province. The latest act of violence in Khuzdar indicates to us just how far things have spiralled out of control in the province, even as everyone stood by and watched as silent spectators. We can now only wonder if there is still time to salvage the situation. In the incident, which occurred on November 2, a bus travelling near Khuzdar was attacked by two to four gunmen on motorbikes who opened fire. Accounts vary as to precisely what happened. But what we do know is that 18 people are dead and at least five others are injured. As a result of the blaze that was caused because of the attack, small petrol stores in the area selling fuel from Iran were also set alight, adding to the damage.

It is no longer simple to get a grip of what is happening in Balochistan. Even those intimately familiar with the province admit that it is today simply impossible to say who is responsible for the various acts of violence which take place there. Some are based on sectarian motives, others are ethnic. Some are directed against law-enforcement personnel and others seem to be backed by no logic at all. Worse still is the fact that this chaotic situation means that it is all the harder to bring the prevailing anarchy under any kind of check. This has already been noted during the Supreme Court hearings, in which the Court declared that the Balochistan government has lost all power to maintain authority in the province.

The fact that we simply do not know what to do is not comforting. The reign of death in Balochistan cannot be allowed to continue. Already, it has wrecked lives across that vast territory and the threat continues to grow like a rumbling volcano, which could erupt at any moment and destroy everything in its path. There are many factors involved in what is happening, including the role of the agencies in Balochistan. Somehow, control has to be regained but it is hard to say how.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2012.