Another terror act

One more gruesome killing incident in Balochistan goes on to confirm that authorities are at a fail in cracking down on the terror nexus. Nine passengers on two Punjab-bound buses were pulled out after being screened on lingual basis and then executed on the highway linking Musakhail-Makhtar and Khajuri. This wanton killing sends the wrong signals in a province that is already teetering under lawlessness and socio-economic deprivation.

The outlawed BLA, an Indian proxy, has claimed responsibility for the crime, and the government rightly believes in exterminating such foreign-sponsored outfits. However, the fact is that there is something amiss in taking on such unscrupulous elements, and there is nothing much to do other than remorse after every such tragedy. A coherent political-cum-military strategy to overcome such fissures is indispensable.

This butchery on the Zhob-Loralai junction invites some introspection. It attests that non-state actors or their cahoots are scot-free, and have a set mindset to bleed. Secondly, the repeated targeting of a particular ethnic community is probably meant for sending down the message that national cohesion is up for a toss.

The government's sole reliance on the kinetic strategy, disregarding the political option completely, has kept the province on tenterhooks, endangering not only the lives of its inhabitants but also the prospects of broader development of the province and the region. The HRCP, and the likes, are right in pressing for a negotiated solution to the imbroglio that is unending and taking a toll in the form of pushing the entire country over the brink as communal cross-currents are being flared through such killings. The grievances of people in the absence of political space and true representation are genuine, and cannot be brushed aside by alienating them.

Besides employing the kinetic-political method that also features an unconditional dialogue offer to all the dissidents, there is need to launch an aggressive diplomatic campaign to apprise the regional countries of foreign meddling, and bring them round to collectively work to rid the region of the menace of terrorism.