Terror in Balochistan

The authorities must not be cowed down and should spare no effort to track down the culprits and bring them to justice

Terror has revisited Balochistan with a vengeance. At least 17 people, including eight of a family, were killed and some four dozen more were wounded when passenger train Jaffer Express was bombed at Sibi railway station on April 8. It is apparent that the perpetrators of this atrocity wanted to produce carnage on a big scale. It must have been a heart-rending and chaotic scene when rescuers and onlookers mounted effort to pluck passengers to safety.



This paper’s reports that soon after the train arrived at the Sibi railway station, a huge explosion tore through a wagon of the train, igniting a fireball which, within no time, swept through three carriages. The train had just pulled to a stop and passengers were disembarking when the bomb went off. The incendiary device — a veritable cargo of death — produced a massive blaze that caught innocent passengers off-guard. It can be imagined that with few exit points in the train wagons — which are often blocked — and the sheer speed with which the inferno spread, the passengers had precious little chance of escape.

A dozen of the corpses are said to be charred beyond recognition and their identity will need to be established through DNA tests. That some eight members of a Hindu family perished in one fell swoop in the incident is most tragic. The family, which was headed for a vacation to Shikarpur, ended up becoming fuel for the raging fire. This deliberate, wanton slaughter of innocent travellers deserves unqualified denunciation. The banned United Baloch Army has claimed responsibility for the massacre and warned of more such acts of violence in the future. The incident happened barely a day after paramilitary Frontier Corps launched a crackdown in Kalat against Baloch militants. A spokesman for the banned outfit said in so many words that they exacted revenge for the military operation. The authorities must not be cowed down by the threats and should spare no effort to track down the culprits and bring them to justice. The next of kin of victims need also be compensated monetarily, although this will be but a poor consolation for them.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 10^th, 2014.

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