Balochistan mourns the death of its fragile peace
A devastating attack ahead of the general election in Pakistan has shaken the strife-torn province, writes Adnan Aamir
The Friday suicide attack in Balochistan’s Mastung district has shattered the fragile peace in the province that was gearing up for the general election scheduled for July 25. The attack at a political gathering in Mastung’s Dringarh area claimed 197 lives (the official figure stands at 129), including that of Balochistan Awami Party’s candidate Siraj Raisani.
The incident, the deadliest in the history of the province, took place 45 km southwest of the capital city of Quetta and just about 50 km from the Afghan border. Raisani was addressing a gathering of around 800 people in a large tent when a suicide bomber present in the audience approached the stage and triggered the explosion. The incident, which is being described as the 9/11 of Balochistan, has come as a grim reminder that peace in this southwestern province of Pakistan is but transient.
Often viewed as the “Wild West” of Pakistan, Balochistan is the country’s largest province by area and its smallest in terms of population. It is currently facing its fifth phase of insurgency. The first phase began in 1948, when the brother of the then ruler of the Kalat state (which formed major part of modern-day Balochistan) objected to the accession of Kalat to Pakistan. Then there were insurgencies in 1958-60 and 1962-69, but these were limited in scale. The fourth phase of the insurgency lasted from 1973 to 1977. These first four phases were largely for greater rights for Balochistan, but the fifth one, which began in 2005 and continues to date, is about separation.
By 2009-10, the insurgency was at its peak and then the state managed to significantly contain the separatist movement. The threat of violence from separatists reduced. The improved situation gave political parties the confidence to actively carry out election campaigns in Balochistan. So much so that this time round a number of women also came forward to participate in the democratic process, either as contestants or as campaigners. Change, it seemed, was in the air.
The Mastung blast has, however, turned the mood. Balochistan, it has shown, still faces a huge threat in the form of religiously-motivated terrorism originating from Afghanistan. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the dastardly act.
This was the 10th attack on the electoral activities in Balochistan since the election campaign kicked off last month. The earlier attacks were low-intensity bomb blasts in which some people were injured but no lives were lost. Given the series of terrorist attacks Balochistan has faced over the years, people took these in their stride.
But now the Mastung attack has also brought back memories of the three blasts in 2016 that targeted a group of lawyers in Mardan in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the police training academy in Quetta and the Shah Noorani shrine in Balochistan. All together 192 people were killed in those three attacks.
Before the attack on Raisani’s gathering, earlier in the day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s former chief minister, Akram Durrani, was also targeted while he was addressing an election rally in Bannu district. While he survived the attack, five others were killed. Before that, on July 10, a suicide bomber killed Awami National Party leader Haroon Bilour while he was campaigning in Peshawar. These attacks point to a concentrated effort to sabotage the Pakistan elections.
All these attacks have been claimed by terrorist groups based in Afghanistan. And, Balochistan is an easy target, given its porous border with Afghanistan.
Mastung’s devastating suicide attack is bound to impact the electoral activities in Balochistan. Balochistan Awami Party has cancelled the major political gathering it had planned for July 14. Other key political leaders, too, are expected to limit their public interactions owing to security concerns. This, in turn, is likely to affect the enthusiasm of the voters and also the voter turnout.
There is, however, hope that the election campaign will continue — if not on the ground, then on social media. Political parties will now most likely rely on social media to reach out to the voters and also hold small gatherings in secure compounds to campaign. Devastating as it was, the attack has failed to hit the resolve of the political parties, which want to go ahead with the election.
Balochistan,the blast has shown, still faces a huge threat in the form of religiouslymotivated terrorism originating from Afghanistan