Sunday's armed attack on the Peshawar-bound Quetta Express near Machh that left three people dead and at least another 20 injured is a bloody reminder of the unsettling reality that Balochistan remains in the grip of a violent insurgency. The attackers also fired rockets on the train, one of which hit a bogey.
Fortunately for the rest of the nearly 1,000 passengers, the driver managed to have presence of mind to increase speed and quickly steer the train out of the assailants firing range while the FC personnel accompanying the train returned fire. A spokesman of a terrorist organisation, the so-called Baloch Liberation Army, later called media offices to claim responsibility for the attack.
For several years now BLA and half a dozen other insurgent outfits have been involved in acts of sabotage and killings. They have been regularly attacking trains, blowing up railway tracks and gas pipelines, and targeting security personnel. They have also been pursuing a violent ethnic cleansing campaign, especially in the provincial capital, killing a number of Punjabi settlers, guest workers, even those travelling to and from the neighbouring Iran.
The government so far has proved unequal to the challenge at hand. The Prime Minister has been focusing on early implementation of an economic development package, Afghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan, which is important, but political forces in the province no longer see it as a priority issue.
In any case, the 18th Amendment and the new NFC Award distribution formula have sufficiently addressed contentious issues pertaining to economic rights by providing for greater provincial autonomy and a consensus resource distribution formula. Feeding the insurgency, and helping the interested outsiders to stoke the fire of separatist sentiments, is the 'missing' people problem.
Nawab Akbar Bugti, who was killed in mysterious circumstances during a stand-off with the security forces under the Musharraf regime, has now emerged as a symbol of resistance. It needs to be noted that the fifth anniversary of Nawab Akbar Bugti's killing was observed last Friday all over Balochistan with a complete strike. All commercial centres remained closed and traffic off roads on the call of various nationalists' groups/parties.
They used the occasion to accuse the security forces of killing "thousands of Baloch youth." This number may be exaggerated. But as human rights groups, local and international, have been pointing out, there are hundreds of cases of enforced disappearances. Mutilated bodies of many of the 'disappeared' have been appearing in public places all over the province after courts started taking notice of the 'missing' peoples relatives' complaints.
These suspected extra judicial killings are now the principal source of anger and dismay in Balochistan. The militants use the issue to advance their agendas and kill innocent people, like the victims travelling in the Quetta Express. The FC cannot protect all potential victims at all times. Balochistan needs a healing touch rather than the use of force. The powers-that-be must listen to the Baloch leaders and resolve the conflict through dialogue and persuasion.