EDITORIAL: The hit inside Afghanistan may have given TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) and the masters of their sanctuary across the Durand Line something to think about, but, as the attack on the Gwadar Port Authority Complex proved, terrorism in Balochistan is still the same.

BLA (Baloch Liberation Army) took responsibility for the audacious strike that saw eight terrorists killed and two security personnel martyred and, while the attack was thwarted and the residential area within the Complex remained safe, there’s nothing to suggest that this particular brand of terror will be controlled anytime soon.

And the fact that security agencies, which are littered across Balochistan, are still behind the curve means they will have to catch up very quickly. It’s not just that such incidents kill people, disrupt lives, hurt the economy and spook investors, it’s also that Balochistan, especially Gwadar, is synonymous with CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor), and nobody needs to be reminded of the many costs of such turbulence in its way.

Already, the insurgency has gained irritating momentum because it was not crushed immediately after the Taliban came back to power in Afghanistan and broke their word about reining in TTP; instead, they let them do whatever they wanted and insisted instead that the Pakistani government talk peace with them.

Ominously, we have not heard much of the nexus between TTP and BLA that came to light just as the second insurgency matured over the last few years. Since the two are very different varieties of terrorists, it’s safe to assume that if they really did develop a working partnership, it must have been in Afghanistan, where Pakistani authorities could not reach them. That would imply that both are indeed on the receiving end of funds and arms from intelligence agencies openly hostile to Pakistan’s interests. And that ratchets up the threat level by many notches, to say the very least.

Dealing with Baloch separatists should, however, involve a very different approach than TTP militants. There’s no denying the frustration, desperation and outright anger that has festered in the province for decades, mainly because of the state’s refusal to treat the common Baloch fairly. Most of them continue, in vain, to demand their rights, they face unfair restrictions because of extremely tight security, and there’s no telling when, or even if, the state will get serious about the missing persons issue.

Therefore, unlike TTP, the Baloch problem still needs to be treated with both the carrot and the stick. The problem is that no administration has yet realised this, much less what dose of each to extend to which groups in the province.

Now, though, events are proving that the approach of reacting to every incident will not do anymore. Balochistan is already too volatile to keep its population pacified and the Chinese from breaking camp much longer. If ever there was a time to crush anybody who’d take up arms against the state and also right some wrongs of the past, it is now.

It is the state’s responsibility to find the right balance, secure the land, and make sure it is safe for all its people.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024