Media all over Pakistan is flashing with the news of floods, and keeping the magnitude of its destruction in mind one feels that even more resources should be employed to highlight this issue. Having said this, I must say that within this somewhere a news item got disappeared which shouldn’t have been the case.
As reported by the survivors, a passenger bus en route from Lahore to Quetta was intercepted some 60km away from its destination. The attackers, after forcing the driver to a stop took the passenger hostage and demanded their CNICs. To the horror of all, 12 passengers were filtered due to their association with the province Punjab, and they were executed close to the road short time later. The very next day in sown town Quetta, a house was raided by some unknown gunmen and as a result 6 painters, hailing from Punjab were slaughtered in cold blood.
This is nothing new for Balochistan. From the last 3 years or rightly after the mysterious assassination of Akbar Bugti, things have taken a U-Turn in Balochistan. The above mentioned activity has been claimed by BLA, the most active terrorist/ liberation movement in Balochistan.
If seen closely, while we have wasted time in negotiation and appeasement, groups like these have gone on a rampage. Firstly, their leaders are residing in hostile countries which makes it clear that they are completely playing on anti Pakistan tunes. Having made their bases in Kabul and sometime in UK, they are controlling a network of barbarians whose aim is to disrupt anything which resembles the “law of the landâ€.
In the first wave they very cleverly removed the moderate leadership of Balochistan, who were in a position to settle the things in the right way. Once done with this task, groups like BLA have used the ethnic card for their favour in any way possible.
Last year it was the Educationists were in the red zone, and in all nearly 100 of them were killed. This time around it’s the civilians who have found themselves in the firing lane, and one such example is the episode narrated above.
From time to time on every forum I have done my best that Baloch question has been delayed to a better day by every regime, and this has contributed mostly to this menace. The present setup started with flying colours. The Balochistan package is an excellent way forward but that’s just a small part of the whole scheme. The province has been penetrated by “enemy of the state†in huge quantity, and with our Eastern neighbour overwhelming interest in Afghanistan, there is no sign that this bombardment will reduce. Having said this, stake holders especially US and Iran are fighting a proxy war in Balochistan too, with US raising many groups out of these militants to counter Iranian regime.
Anyhow, the bottom line is that its not about Punjabi or Sindhi, but rather it has everything to do with the amount of lawlessness in these areas. The evil literature is in abundance and many parties are doing their best to keep Balochistan the way it is.
Just a few weeks back, a free lance journalist gave his account of a far off area of that region Turbat, and I was amazed that for years our national anthem cannot be played in the schools and colleges of Balochistan. This is the same story in nearly every part of Balochistan.
The catalyst to this militancy is undoubtedly the present coalition and leadership of Balochistan. The Raisanis have failed miserably to control this crisis, and their reputation has contributed further in the destabilization of the situation.
This is the time when Balochistan requires attention, its rights and a loyal leadership. Like always before, it is just another effort to make those realize who should be watching these developments at the first place.
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