Another bloodshed

The carnage at Quetta railway station is a reminder that terrorism is all over the place, and efforts to eradicate it have fallen short of success. A suicide bombing on Saturday morning as Peshawar-bound Jaffer Express was about to leave the platform has claimed at least 26 lives, and left more than 60 injured. Balochistan has been on the receiving end from disgruntled elements that strike people at will and go scot-free after bleeding them.

Yet again, the Baloch Liberation Army has claimed responsibility, and its Majeed Brigade is suspected to be behind this bombing in Quetta. The same entity has been at the vanguard of terror operations that have killed scores of innocent citizens, including security forces personnel, apart from specifically targeting Chinese interests. The fact that no major damage has come its way, and every tragedy goes in the annals of history as a remorse and the enemy has the audacity to bounce back is disgusting, raising a question mark on our anti-terror strategy.

This time too, all that the people have to console with are mere statements of condemnation, and the 'resolve' to nail in the culprits. It makes a mockery of the pain and anguish that the commoners and the state edifice are faced with while fighting a faceless enemy. The terrorists are now coming to derail Pakistan's foreign policy and that is squarely evident from the displeasure that China has come to nurse with the evolving security situation.

The restive provinces of Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa are the theatre of terrorism and that can't simply be managed with piecemeal measures. More than 1,600 terror incidents have been reported countrywide during the last 15 months, leading to an utter sense of insecurity among the citizens, apart from foreign investors who are eager to tap the economic potentials that Pakistan has to offer. Balochistan is infected with a chronic politico-security disorder. The prism with which it is being addressed is dysfunctional, and desires some organic shift.