A passenger train carrying 380 passengers from Quetta to Peshawar in Pakistan was hijacked by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) on March 11, resulting in a hostage situation that concluded with a rescue operation on March 12. The incident left 64 dead, including 33 militants. Since then, much is being written about Pakistan’s fight against terrorism. While some newspapers have highlighted that the root of the problem lies within the state and its failure to address structural causes of the Baloch insurgency, other publications are resorting to the often-used “foreign hand” angle. Calls for unity, however, have been issued across the Pakistani media.
For the Daily Times, analyst Saad Masood, in his March 15 article titled The Lows Keep On Coming, writes that the government is suffering from “a lack of resolve” to deal with regions struggling with insurgencies. He claims that Pakistan’s is a case of getting the tactics right but the strategy wrong — that Islamabad is not playing the long game. The author then outlines his counter-insurgency policy as “assimilating where possible, and eliminating where needed”, and highlights Colombia’s experience in dealing with insurgency as a prototype that Pakistan could learn from, which includes a policy of investing in conflict-torn regions to provide jobs and ensure stability.
Story continues below this ad
Writing for Dawn, Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, an academic at Islamabad’s Quaid-i-Azam University, argues in a March 14 article that the Balochistan issue is plagued with neglect and it “only enters the mind of mainland Pakistan when something spectacular happens.” Writing that “repression and resource grabs” will only worsen the “crisis of hegemony” in different regions of the country, Akhtar believes that serious reflection, rather than knee-jerk reactions, is needed. He provides examples from Sindh, Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Peshawar Valley to illustrate how vanity development projects leading to displacement of local communities is fuelling resentment, especially amongst the youth. Only a progressive alternative, he concludes, “that can herald a new social contract in which this country’s multinational character is finally realised will arrest the rapidly spreading fires of xenophobia which feed on the status quo of repression and denial.”
On similar lines, the need for dialogue was emphasised by a March 13 editorial in The Nation: “It is encouraging that this attack has sparked a long-overdue national conversation. From the Prime Minister to the Chief of Army Staff to provincial ministers, key stakeholders are finally engaging with the pressing issues of Balochistan and how to address them. But this dialogue must not fade into silence.”
Foreign hand
Story continues below this ad
The “foreign hand” charge is a frequently used tool by the state and the media in the face of institutional failures. This time, too, Pakistan’s military and government have already accused India of having a role in the train attack. In line with this, sections of the media are pointing fingers at Delhi and Kabul.
Dawn’s March 14 editorial, for example, claims: “Indian involvement in stirring trouble in Balochistan is not unknown. The Kulbhushan Jadhav episode, and the dossier that Pakistan handed to the UN, detailing India’s malign activities, should not be forgotten. It is regrettable that India has yet to learn to live like a responsible neighbour, and refrain from attempts to destabilise regional states.” The editorial then goes on to accuse the Taliban in Afghanistan of providing a safe haven to “anti-Pakistan terrorists” belonging to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and the Baloch Liberation, and that bilateral ties will not improve “unless action is taken against all anti-Pakistan terrorists on Afghan soil”.
most read
Similarly, academic Malik Muhammad Ashraf, for The Nation in his March 14 article, writes that the attack on the Jaffar Express by the BLA “proved beyond any doubt the international dimension to this heinous operation as the terrorists were constantly in touch with their handlers in Afghanistan.” Ashraf keeps his focus solely on Afghanistan, further stating that “regional powers” need to urgently impress upon the Taliban government the need to eliminate terrorists on its soil, which are a threat “not only to Pakistan but the entire region”.
Call for unity
In response to the brutal hijacking, the media has urged the Pakistani polity to stand united in grief. The Nation, in its March 14 editorial, while accepting that unity is easier said than achieved, writes, “Political consensus has been missing in Pakistan for quite some time. In a country so deeply divided that its opposition and government refuse to engage in rational, civil discourse—preferring instead to battle in the streets—there is little hope for cohesion at this critical moment. Yet, unite we must.”
Similarly, the Pakistan Observer, in its March 15 editorial, opines that the announcement of PM Shehbaz Sharif to convene an All Parties Conference “is a step in the right direction as the proposed moot, if called after proper homework, has the potential to come out with a consensus national response to the menace.” Saad Masood, too, opines that “winning the peace” with the Baloch rebels will work towards national unity, reflected in “a unified Pakistan, where all its citizens feel represented and valued”.
saptarishi.basak@expressindia.com
