Balochistan is significant for Pakistan because it is strategically located near to the Strait of Hormuz. It has a coastline of 470 miles along the Arabian Sea. It borders with Khyber Pakhtoonkhaw, FATA and Punjab in north and northeast, Sindh to the south-east, the Arabian Sea in the south, Iran in west and Afghanistan to the north and north-west. The population of province according to the 2017 Census is 12.344 million. The fact of the matter is that conflict and instability are inherited in the province since the inception of Pakistan. Even the stability comes with economic development but still, Balochistan lacks with this thesis. China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is supposed to change the fate of Pakistan and people of Balochistan, whereas the instability in Balochistan is still looming around. The conundrums behind this fiasco are involvement of hostile actors rather than indigenous grievances of the people. Quetta witnessed an outrageous attempt at injecting chaos in the province.
Quetta was rocked by three vicious suicide attacks. As a result of a suicide blast on a police vehicle, five police officers were martyred in the province. The suicide bomber used a motorcycle and hit the police truck from the rear side, according to Moazzam Jah Ansari, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) for Balochistan. Moreover, Ansari accused the foreign hostile elements of this suicide attack and stated that a case could not be filed for the suicide bombing. Late night on Tuesday the dead bodies of five martyred police officers at Airport Road suicide attack, were sent back to their hometowns after offering their funeral prayers. Unfortunately, the Tuesday night attack was a third consecutive attack of same nature which increased the vulnerability of the security situation. Another attack took place on airport road which left seven police officers injured. And the third suicide attack happened in the city’s Mian Ghundi area where F Frontier Corps (FC) post was targeted by the terrorists. Yet no one has taken responsibility for the attacks. Analysing the whole situation and formation of attacks, it is assumed that IS was being involved in these attack. Interestingly, Islamic State (IS) has created an outlet in Pakistan and Afghanistan, mostly by recruiting among offshoots of other established militant groups. Groups and Alliance like LeJ and IS have claimed some of Pakistan’s most deadly recent attacks. According to stats 6 members of Balochistan Christian minority community, four of them from the same family, and two people from the Shi’ite Muslim minority were gunned down in Quetta this month. Whereas in 2017 December two suicide bombers stormed a packed church in a southwestern part of Balochistan, killing at least 10 people and wounding up to 56.
There is a dire need to scotch the terrorism and control the law and order situation of the province. On contrary, it is fact of the matter that situation is now better from the past. There are now no more ‘no-go’ areas in Balochistan. Province has moved from stability phase to developmental phase. This developmental phase is not digestible for the neighbouring hostile countries hence they are making their marks with such outrageous attempts.
