With another two bodies of Baloch nationalists found in Turbat three days ago, the kill and dump policy of the security forces continues unabated. One of the victims, the central information secretary of the Baloch Republican Party, Jalel Reiki, was abducted in classic fashion in February 2009. The other, Mohammad Younas, was a Baloch National Movement activist. Independent organisations like Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) have extensively documented the human rights abuses including extrajudicial executions, torture, enforced disappearances, and forced displacement of civilians committed in Balochistan by the military, intelligence agencies, and the Frontier Corps (FC). HRW documented the killing and dumping of at least 150 Baloch nationalists in the first six months of this year alone. The ongoing Baloch insurgency is the fifth armed insurgency since the creation of Pakistan. In the 25 years between the last insurgency that ended in 1977 and the current one that emerged in 2002, the political struggle for their rights by the Baloch people bore no fruit. Baloch anger and a sense of deprivation at the state’s usurpation without adequate recompense of the province’s rich mineral and fossil fuel resources, once again manifested itself in a guerrilla struggle. Issues of provincial autonomy, lack of employment opportunities and abject poverty in the province despite its rich natural resources have been adding fuel to the fire. Yet, each time the state’s response has been that of unleashing the military and letting loose a reign of terror on the Baloch people. Apart from targeting nationalist activists, the security forces have increasingly been cleansing the province of Baloch human rights activists and academics critical of the military. Siddique Eido and Naeem Sabir of the HRCP, and Saba Dashtiyari, a professor at the University of Balochistan and an acclaimed Baloch writer and poet were killed this year for raising their voices. The atrocities of the security agencies are mounting, the evidence piling up. Yet, the political government continues to behave like a deaf, blind and mute wretch. Despite knowing full well the situation, and being faced with repeated calls to end the atrocities via impartial and transparent investigations of the aforesaid crimes, the government has failed to even initiate a process of accountability or redress. As in the case of Bangladesh, the state has turned on itself and its own people for vested interests. Balochistan could well become the Bangladesh of tomorrow if a fair political settlement is not reached in time. As in the case of Bangladesh, blame on the ‘foreign hand’ could become a self-fulfilling prophecy, especially given the geo-strategic location and rich natural resources of Balochistan. Moreover, continuing to ignore abuses by the military and intelligence agencies in Balochistan is a blot on the fair face of the country and its democratic dispensation. A stop to the kill and dump policy is the first step towards an improvement in the situation, which could hopefully open the door to a negotiated political settlement to bring the province’s sufferings to an end. *