Mubarak Baloch
The dastardly terror act in Quetta left the nation shaken and badly bruised. Anger and indignation saw no bounds after the grisly scene of those died in suicide attack and those injured crying for being helped flashed on the television screen. Damage is colossal. Over seventy precious lives have been lost and more than hundred injured many of them critically. Rescuers managed to hospitalize them immediately. And the hospital was not away as the incident happened within hospital premises. Most of the victims were well-educated and practicing lawyers who gathered to mourn and protest the murder of Advocate Bilal Anwar Kasi, President Baluchistan Bar Association.
Perpetrators first shot dead the lawyer and then waited to target the legal fraternity gathered in protest over the killing of its colleague. It was a trap. Perpetrators achieved their target by mowing down innocent people in large number. There should be some security precaution and protocols to be followed in this ongoing belligerent environment. It is not advisable to together in large number at the untoward incident site as it offers an opportunity to criminals to target the unarmed innocent crowd for maximum damage. Though being in rage and staging protest against the murder of a colleague was natural reaction of legal fraternity.
Pakistan had suffered a lot in the cold-war era and thereafter and has been bearing the brunt of Afghan refugees and their concomitant ills. Damages Pakistan suffered ever since Afghan conundrum took birth are colossal. These sacrifices should have been appreciated by Afghan authorities. Contrary to this Pakistan is now being bashed. And this time India-managed Afghan soil is being used against Islamabad. Notwithstanding, the present disturbed security environment has much relevance with the regional developments. This is the reason that there are both overt and covert manoeuvres in the regional policies of the countries impacting the internal security environment of Pakistan. It is troika ‘America-India-Afghan versus Pakistan and China. China is generously investing in investment deficient Pakistan. It is going to invest 46 bn US dollars in CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor). This activity also raises China’s regional status and thereby its international stature which is anathema to USA. The latter, to put pressure on Pakistan; the friend of China, moved closer to India, which has perennial hostility towards Pakistan. Pakistan is determined to continue with CPEC despite odds ahead. It is a ticklish situation now. Patronizing a country having hostility with both China and Pakistan to counter China is proving abrasive in the region. India-US nexus allowed India to comfortably sit in American dominated Afghan soil and carry on with its activities suiting to itself, USA and Afghanistan. This is the reason India has involved itself in apparent activities of reconstruction / rehabilitation in Afghan. A country which has hardly fifteen hundred of its compatriots actually living in Afghan soil is maintaining one embassy, four consulates and several so-called cultural centres. This is disproportionate. Exercise is aimed to Indiaize Afghanistan by creating and using the proxies.
The unsettling state of the affairs is due to odd ‘pulls and pushes’ of the several stakeholders pursuing divergent strategic interests in region. Convergence of such stakeholder’s interests is unlikely. US need India and other likeminded entities like Afghanistan to work as bulwark against China and its allies like Pakistan. Thus regional friction has much bearing on the ongoing disturbing situation in Pakistan. Afghanistan despite being dependent on Pakistan on many counts has also started showing its displeasure carrying assertive tone as Afghan President has flayed Pakistan after peace talks with Taliban hit deadlock and questioned Pakistan’s sincerity in persuading Taliban for peace talks. Dr Ashraf Ghani draws such strength from US policy to stand against China’s rise. India is allowed to manage Afghanistan soil to achieve the goals set by USA. America’s recent endeavours to get India as member of NSG, and its increased cooperation in different fields of interest and looking away from appaling plight of minority population in India worsening in the face of Modi’s Hindutva pursuit reveals US drift towards India. Indian security forces’ atrocities in occupied Kashmir are also not spoken of or commented by America. Pakistani leadership should understand the dilemma of regional rivalries of both regional and international characters. Islamabad has its own domestic compulsions and for that reason it cannot backtrack from CPEC project as its success will make its non-buoyant national economy robust and would engage bulk of jobless youth in different projects. Such attacks are basically aimed to create panic in public with wider impact and to make people believe that there is non-functioning government in Pakistan. If people are poisoned to disbelieve government’s capability there will be commotion leading to anarchy like situation where fear would thrive driving away the investors dooming economy and its allied sectors. Hostile activities to show government small are unlikely to end soon. Government and its security apparatus have to evolve a strategy countering the disruptive schemes of the characters desirous to hamstring efforts being made to make Pakistan’s economy strong. It is a ticklish situation requiring careful handling so that hostile hands’ machinations are neutralized and ongoing mega project may come to fruition.
