Opinion In Balochistan, rule of violence and a Pakistan where government has no accountability

In the days since violence has intensified in Balochistan, the dissonance between the performative outrage of Pakistan’s de facto military rulers and the deep, structural security issues that plague the country has been striking. Late last week, the Balochistan Liberation Army, a militant separatist force, carried out coordinated attacks under what it has called “Operation Herof” or “Black Storm” across the embattled province. Pakistan’s security forces responded to the killing of 31 civilians and 17 security personnel by militants, including suicide bombers, with attacks of their own and the killing of an estimated 145 insurgents. Yet, rather than address the social, economic and political issues that underpin insurgencies — in Balochistan, but also along the Durand Line — the Pakistan government has reflexively, and without evidence, blamed India.

Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province in terms of area and is rich in mineral and natural resources. Several projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, for example, are in this region. Since the creation of Pakistan, the Baloch people have been shortchanged in terms of development and have had little say in how their resources are used. They have, in essence, been the victims of an extractive and undemocratic political ecosystem. That the province shares restive borders with Iran and Afghanistan makes peace here all the more important for Pakistan. Like with the Pashtun community along the Afghan border, addressing the root causes of Baloch grievances requires more than punitive action. But can a government that reports to a self-appointed field marshal bridge a democratic deficit?

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The Pakistan Army has nurtured, as a pillar of strategic policy, violent non-state actors that it deploys in India. Blaming Delhi for its own failings might be a knee-jerk reflex action for Islamabad and Rawalpindi, but it will not save lives or help Pakistan keep the federal peace. Nor will White House dinners do that, or, for that matter, offering Donald Trump sycophancy. To address the insurgencies within, Pakistan must confront its original sin of supporting cross-border terror. It must build a culture of political accountability. For Pakistan, those are the difficult, but also unavoidable, challenges.