Daily Times

Same city. same victims, and a gap of two weeks. On Tuesday, a gang of miscreants stormed a police station in the wee hours. The exchange of fire claimed the lives of a policeman and four labourers.

By attacking them despite the protection of local law enforcement authorities in the wake of a heart-wrenching murder of six labourers on October 14, someone believed in sending a loud and clear message to the state as well as their targets. Although condemnations have poured in from all directions, simply calling out the “extremist agendas” and terrorist factions for carrying out their whims is not enough.

The time to seek answers from his underlings in a comprehensive report he had sought has passed. Now, it is his administration’s turn to provide answers to a list of discomforting questions pertaining to the survival of people in Balochistan.

The convoluted saga had come as a grim reminder of 2015 when a group of gunmen used a similar M.O. to rain hellfire upon a labourer’s camp in Turbat.

The uncanny similarities should have jolted the authorities out of their complacency so that they could nip the budding menace.

Being frequently hit by a cacophony of armed fighters, the most drastic of which targetted the celebration of the birth of Prophet (PBUH) in October, Balochistan is in no shape to stomach yet another manifestation of militia.

Whether these episodes are being orchestrated by regrouped separatist elements that seek to tear apart the writ of the state of extremist outfits like the TTP, Turbat, in particular, and the vast lands, in general, need a cautious eye and an immaculate line of defence. These waves of violence cannot be allowed to get bigger and stronger. *