Police in peril

The violence in Balochistan continues to grow. Its latest victims have been four policemen shot dead on a highway leading from the Bolan area to Quetta. A fifth policeman was able to escape into the mountains of the Bolan area, where the incident took place. Reports remain somewhat confused, but it seems one of the dead was the SHO of the Dera Murad Jamali police station. The policemen were not the only persons to fall victim to the militants. Six other persons, including the deputy head of administration in the town of Jhal Magsi, were abducted. Members of his family were allowed to go.

There has been no formal claim of responsibility, but it does seem that nationalist outfits may be involved. Some media reports speak of messages being delivered from them. Again, there is uncertainty. But other facts before us are crystal clear. With each passing day, Balochistan is plunging deeper and deeper into anarchy. School teachers are killed, gas installations blown up, ‘settlers’ murdered and people abducted for ransom. Some tactics, it appears, have been picked up by Baloch militants from the Taliban. In other cases, criminals seem to be involved. The degree of lawlessness is quite terrifying.

Is there a solution? One will have to be found. Things cannot drift on as is now happening. The state appears essentially to have lost control over its largest province. What is even more worrying is that very little is being done, at least as far as we can see, to remedy the situation. Last October, Amnesty International had called on Pakistani authorities to investigate incidents involving the alleged killing and torture of 40 Baloch activists. The organisation noted that these deaths came against a backdrop of stepped up military activity in the province.

There can, of course, be no excuse for murder or kidnapping. These acts need to be condemned in the strongest terms. But the reality also is that such unrest, such anger and such angst has been generated by years of perceived injustice in Balochistan. This sense of injustice runs deep through the core of the province and will need to be urgently addressed if the mayhem on the streets and highways is to be stopped and a sense of security restored.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2011.