Four bore well drillers working in Balochistan were killed by unknown assailants day before yesterday. They originally belonged to Punjab’s Sadiqabad district.
According to DC Kalat, they were killed in the Malangzai area of Kalat’s Mangochar city around 2.30pm.
Last month, seven passengers from Punjab were shot dead by armed attackers in Barkhan district, Balochistan, while travelling from Quetta to Faisalabad but August last year was a month when this province suffered some of its most widespread violence in years when militants attacked police stations, railway lines and highways.
A large number of people were killed, including Punjab residents visiting or working in Balochistan. They were pulled off buses and trucks before they were killed. The Punjabis have a sizeable presence in various parts of Balochistan. A large number of them do menial jobs.
Be that as it may, that Balochistan has been suffering on account of terrorism is a fact. And there are a slew of reasons behind growing lawlessness in this province.
Successive governments have adopted short-term measures only in order to deal with the law and order situation the simmering cauldron of unrest has been creating in the country’s largest province in terms of area.
None of the governments has ever evolved a strategy aimed at reaching out to militants or secessionists with a view to successfully persuade them to give up arms and become part of the mainstream politics.
Our federal and Balochistan governments are required to ensure that Punjabis must be protected from target killings but the two governments must not lose sight of the fact that as many as five, including the current one, bloody insurgencies have been one of the biggest challenges to the sovereignty of the country.
Haider Ali Abbasi, (Abbottabad)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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