Individual Counts

After the recent incident of killing of an International Committee of Red Cross’s employee Khalil Rasjed Dale in Quetta at the hands of militants, one thing has become crystal clear, that Pakistan is not a very safe place for foreigners. ICRC has already temporarily suspended their activities in Pakistan after this development and now it will be interesting to see if other such foreign organizations join the bandwagon and decide to shut their business here.
It is not clear what the consequences of their departure would be if any for Pakistan, however for militants in the country, it would be a massive success. It is known to everyone, how much these psychopaths hate the westerners and therefore, their departure would mean “mission accomplished” and would definitely lead to some grand celebrations in the militant’s camps.

It has been almost six years since the assassination of Nawab Akbar Bugti and in this period, despite the massive efforts of the provincial leaders to spot those responsible for this brutality, no success has been achieved yet in this case. Disappointed with all this, Balochistan have now asked the federal government to transfer the investigation of Nawab Akbar Bugti’s murder to the Federal Investigation Agency.
A justified move without a doubt, however isn’t this the same FIA that has terribly failed to find those guilty of assassinating the country’s former prime minister Benazir Bhutto? When the so called “efficient intelligence” could not even get close to solving her case, what is the guarantee that they would be of any help in Bugti’s case? Balochistan government needs to think about this.

Our honorable and highly qualified federal interior minister, Dr Rehman Malik recently offered to withdraw all criminal cases against the aggrieved Baloch leaders living outside the country, namely Brahamdagh Bugti, Harbiyar Marri and other Baloch leaders, if they return back to the country- Indeed a probable step to solve the Balochistan issue. And as was expected, the Baloch Nationalists leaders took no time in rejecting this offer followed by immense criticism.
For all the atrocities and injustices meted out to the people of Balochistan in sixty five years, this is what the Government has to offer them? The province has been denied of any kind of rights and has been neglected since the beginning, regardless of a democratic or a military regime. Law and order situation is at its worse and Anti-Pakistani sentiments in the people of Balochistan are rising with every passing day. Apart from providing the people of the province with some relief in terms of provision of health or education facilities or even clean drinking water. The federal government thinks that by taking back the cases against the leaders will help pacify the relations? A perfect initiative it must be said!