Daily Times

On April 11, 2015, 20 labourers from Punjab and Sindh working on a dam construction project in Turbat, Balochistan were killed by members of the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF). The 12 Levies guards stationed at the camp were unable to prevent the attack. On April 13, just two days after the incident, the Frontier Corps told news agencies that 13 militants who were involved in the attack were killed and several others injured, one BLF commander was also killed and another one injured and taken into custody. This action was reportedly taken in response to an intelligence tip-off. Though this massacre is highly condemnable, whatever BLF’s grievances, and the government must do all in its power to quell this insurgency, it seems rather odd that the labourers working on the dam had to be brought in from other provinces and that no local labour could be inducted for the project. Development projects in Balochistan should bolster employment, in addition to providing the much needed infrastructure and public facilities to the province. The exclusion of Baloch workers from these projects will only increase strife and resentment against people from other provinces in Balochistan.
It seems as though our security forces are always just reacting to such attacks, instead of defusing militant and other security threats before innocent civilians are killed. The current Baloch insurgency has been going on for more than a decade but paramilitary operations against the militants only happen after incidents take place. No proof is available that the 13 people killed were in fact the same militants that attacked the labourers or even if they were members of BLF. It is a bit difficult to believe that after not being able to get a handle on the insurgency for so many years, the Frontier Corps have been able to capture or kill the insurgents and two of their commanders just two days after the attack in Turbat, in an unprecedented show of efficiency. Shortly after the attack, Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said that the paramilitary Frontier Corps were searching the mountains near Kech district for the attackers, stating: “We will chase them down and bring them to justice. We need help in this war against terrorists. Alone, we cannot fight.” Whether the paramilitary has truly been able to take out the militants or not, the government officials and security forces in Balochistan and the rest of Pakistan need to rethink their approach. Reactive revenge actions against the real perpetrators or innocent victims, as the case may be, are no substitute for what is really required: a political solution to the troubles of the province. *