The recent abominable bombing of a Shiite rally in Quetta, left around sixty peaceful protesters dead. The attacks on Shiites in Pakistan have historically been a work of some radical Sunni militant groups, and go back to decades of bitter sectarian rivalry between the two groups. But the apparently “mindless” retaliatory banning of Baloch freedom movement outfits by the govt. embodies its ulterior motives: that is, to blame religious violence by its own proxies-went-rogue on Baloch freedom fighters and use it as an excuse to renew its War against Balochs.
It is worth mentioning that the Pashtun Shiite community of Quetta is an ardent supporter of the Pakistani state. That the target killings of various Baloch human rights activists and nationalist politicians like Habib Jalib in recent months have been claimed by previously unknown groups like Al-Ansar Mujahideen and Sipah-e-Shohada-e-Balochistan, death squads with names that invoke religion and remind us of similarly named ISI backed “jihadists” in Indian held Kashmir. That these proxies later went rogue, like Jaish e Muhammad which played a part in the killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, and began to undermine state agenda is part of our history. That history may be repeating itself in Balochistan is not out of question.
For a very long time establishment of Pakistan has waged a propaganda war against Baloch nationalist outfits by banning newspapers, online blogs and websites, and abducting journalists for reporting State brutality. But the latest strategy of hijacking Baloch freedom movement by blaming it for sectarian violence is despicable and exposes State’s agenda of denying people of Balochistan their basic right to freedom – no matter if it comes at the cost of killing its own supporters.
