According to reports, two power pylons in Sibi and a gas pipeline in Dera Bugti were blown up on Monday. The attacks on infrastructure have intensified of late and a total of 12 gas pipelines and eight power pylons of high transmission lines were attacked this month. As a result of these attacks, large parts of Balochistan will be deprived of power and gas supplies for 12 days. It is important to note that the insurgents were previously targeting the security forces, with attacks on infrastructure few and far between. It seems they came to the conclusion that their tactics were not effective and therefore reverted to what has been a traditional insurgency tactic. Natural gas extracted from Balochistan, a utility of immense importance that fuelled the industrialisation of Pakistan since it was discovered in the early 1950s, was denied to Balochistan for years. Therefore, they are attacking the infrastructure not only because it symbolically represents the state but also because it is perceived as an exploitation instrument. Since the provincial government is bending over backwards to secure the main electricity and gas installations, the tactic is proving effective. It is important to see how the state is responding to the Baloch demand for rights. Two activists of the Baloch Students Organisation-Azad (BSO-Azad) were shot dead and 24 were arrested after an alleged exchange of firing between the group’s members and the security forces in Khuzdar. No doubt what the insurgents are doing harms the economy, but it is still a long way from what the security forces are up to. The security forces need to understand that they are fuelling the insurgency inadvertently with their repression. Their barbaric acts are only producing more recruits for the insurgency. Their attitude is not solving problems, rather it is making them worse. Balochistan is located in a very geo-strategically important region, with a coast overlooking the Straits of Hormuz, from where the Gulf’s oil supplies pass. In addition, it is rich in minerals. We should not tempt fate with this cavalier attitude because if any foreign power gets interested in Balochistan, we will, once again, hear the echoes of 1971. We must draw back from the brink. This is a political matter and requires a political approach. The need is to make the Baloch stakeholders, giving them the status of full and equal citizens. Instead of oppressing them, we must engage the estranged nationalists and do something for the people of Balochistan, otherwise we may suffer an irreparable loss. *