The TTP challenge still persists

Whilst terrorism is at its lowest level in the rest of the country, Balochistan remains in the crosshairs of terrorists. In the early hours of last Wednesday, six personnel of the Balochistan Levies Force were martyred when heavily armed men attacked the checkpost they were manning in Sanjavi area of Ziarat district. Soon afterwards, the TTP claimed credit for the vicious act of violence. Three days earlier, an improvised explosive device exploded just as a train, Jaffar Express, reached near Dera Murad Jamali, killing four passengers and injuring six others. This was the second explosion within two weeks in the same area targeting the same Peshawar to Quetta train. Fortunately, no life was lost in the first blast. No one has taken responsibility for these explosions. There have been several other incidents during the recent days and months wherein security forces came under attack.
An obvious suspect in all such cases are the Baloch insurgents although there has been a significant drop in their activities. The other is the TTP, which has taken responsibility for murdering the Levies men. Both derive sustenance from their foreign backers. It is no secret that some elements in the Afghan intelligence agency, NDS, are inimical to Pakistan. They have been providing support to TTP terrorists as well as Baloch militants, letting them use Afghan soil to launch cross-border attacks into Pakistan. Then there is India with its publicly declared policy (as articulated by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval) to destabilise Pakistan through acts of terrorism. A living proof of that policy is RAW-operative Kulbhushan Jadhav caught red-handed from Balochistan. India is also opposed to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) traversing mainly through Balochistan. There are certain other powers with a reason to undermine President Xi Jinping's One Belt One Road initiative of which CPEC is a flagship project. Conflation of all these interests will keep the pot boiling through Baloch insurgents, TTP terrorists, or violent sectarian extremists. The challenge calls for greater efficiency in this country's intelligence agencies.
Pakistan also needs to put its own house in order to deny outsiders any opportunity to create trouble in that restive province. First and foremost, the issue of 'missing persons,' causing anger and dismay in Balochistan in particular and across the country in general, needs to be resolved in a satisfactory manner. The federal government must also take meaningful steps towards fulfilling the commitments it made to the National Party President Akhtar Mengal at the start of its term in office. The much-talked about Baloch reconciliation process ought to be pursued in earnest.