Earthquake? What earthquake?

As expected, the Balochistan earthquakes have slipped from view. Such reports, as there are, tend to be on the inside pages of newspapers and in the lower order of items on broadcast news channels. There is no agreement on how many people have died with estimates varying between a low of a little over 300 and a high of over 500. Aid has begun to trickle in but one does not have to go far from the main centres of population to find communities that have received nothing thus far and are festering pools of anger that will be easily potentiated by any radicalising element that comes along, in the wake of this latest tragedy, in the lives of the people of Balochistan. Aid workers, both civilian and military, have been attacked and two soldiers have died on October 2 trying to bring help to the needy — a dispiriting scenario in every respect.

The soldiers who died were delivering relief goods in the Mashkay area. Four others were injured, despite which their commanding officer says that they would continue to deliver aid even if the attacks on them are repeated — which they almost certainly will be. A separatist group has claimed responsibility for the attack and there is no reason to disbelieve the claim, and it underscores the very real risks faced by any agency, military or civilian, trying to work in the area. Army units came under fire five times on the same days as the attack.

Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch made a fleeting, almost perfunctory, visit to the area on October 3, when he briefed assembled news organisations as to the problems relief workers face, before leaving as hurriedly as he had arrived. Balochistan is possibly the most difficult part of the country to deliver help to in the event of a natural disaster and even in less troubled times, it would be a challenge to stretch any government, provincial or civilian. Adding in an armed insurgency to the mix of misery is just another layer of complication. Once again, the people of Balochistan find themselves on the back of every burner and they are angry.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2013.

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