THERE seems to be no end to the relentless murder of members of the Shia Hazara community in Balochistan...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
. Many of the victims of Monday's suicide car booming that targeted a university bus in Quetta, in which at least four people died and over 70 were maimed, belonged to this beleaguered ethnic group. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ...
has grabbed credit for the attack saying that its latest atrocity was 'Dire Revenge™' for the bombing of a madressah in Quetta earlier this month. Members of the Balochistan Assembly have rightly questioned the role of intelligence agencies, particularly their inability to pre-empt such acts of terrorism. The deadly violence in Balochistan, especially in its capital city, has created a state of fear and mistrust between the ethnic and religious communities that reside in the province. However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money...
while the provincial government has largely played the role of spectator as violence consumes Balochistan, it is the security establishment that must primarily explain why terrorist outfits have been allowed to operate with impunity in the province.
As we have argued before, trying to stop a jacket wallah when he is about to strike is next to impossible. Also, it is not possible for the security forces to be everywhere all the time. The fact is a police vehicle was accompanying the ill-fated bus in Monday's tragedy, yet it could do little to prevent the carnage. The key, then, to checking the violence is to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorist groups through better intelligence gathering and pre-emptive action. The intelligence agencies' role in this regard has been woeful to say the least, with snuffies striking at will in Balochistan. These shortcomings need to be addressed and the authorities in Islamabad as well as Quetta need to shake off their apathy so that the lives of the people of Balochistan can be secured.