The horrific bomb blast at Quetta’s Civil Hospital has reportedly left 54 people dead and many injured, while no group has yet accepted responsibility for the attack. Previously, there was the targeted killing of Balochistan Bar Association President Advocate Bilal Anwar Kasi whose body was in the hospital where the blast took place, and many lawyers and journalists had gone there to accompany it. While it is premature to speculate whether the two attacks are connected, they nevertheless show the alarming crisis of security in Balochistan. For long, Balochistan has been home to conflict of various kinds, and to make matters worse, the acute deprivation in the province is further fuelling grievances. Whether it is militant separatists who target government facilities or religious extremists who attack Hazara Shias, this security crisis needs a multifaceted approach that identifies the cause of all these different types of conflict and addresses them. Merely beefing up security or putting the blame on mysterious foreign forces would simply not suffice.
Balochistan’s long history of violence and conflict is rarely paid attention to in the rest of the country. While separatist fires blazing in the province are placed in dialectic of centre-province grievances, sectarian attacks are more the result of the militant infrastructure that for long has been quite strong in Pakistan. Militant sectarian organisations such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have spread their sectarian poison in the province and targeted innocent civilians. Even the notorious Quetta Shura gets its name from allegedly being based in Quetta although it is true that it is spread all over Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.
It is indeed tragic that Balochistan is the victim of such barbaric acts of terrorism. What goes on in the minds of those who attack public hospitals and unarmed civilians is something one might never know. Needless to say these attacks must be vehemently condemned and their perpetrators must be made to pay for them. The very same hospital that was attacked on Monday was also the target of a suicide attack six years ago in which a bomber blew himself up in the emergency room where Shia Muslims were present. In 2013, a bomb blast in Quetta’s Alamdar road claimed the lives of around 81 people. The majority of the victims of these attacks were again Shias, and the responsibility for the attack was claimed by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
The tragically numerous sectarian attacks in Balochistan need to come to a stop. And in addition to going after the militant infrastructure, attention also needs to be paid at creating sectarian harmony. The forces of bigotry should not be allowed any more space to take lives of innocent civilians. Needless to say, protection of life is one of the fundamental responsibilities of the state, and the Shias in Balochistan must be guaranteed this protection.
The security crisis in Balochistan must also be understood under the broader rubric of chronic underdevelopment in the province. Those living in abject poverty are naturally susceptible to extremist narratives, and this is the socioeconomic class that extremists rely on for both their recruitment and their support. Hence, economic uplift programmes are necessary in Balochistan for the sake of its people. And Pakistani state must step forward and help Balochistan lift itself up as a prosperous province.*