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Another massacre in Quetta

Pakistan’s restive city of Quetta is in mourning. The minority Hazara community has been targetted once again — and this time it is burying at least 80 more killed in a bomb blast on Saturday.

A similar attack had claimed more than 100 lives a month ago, which led to the dismissal of the provincial government as a retribution. Such daredevil acts of lawlessness have now become a modus operandi across the country, coupled with rise in militancy in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. So is the case in the country’s largest metropolitan, Karachi, which is witnessing target killings on a daily basis.

The state machinery is either in a fix or unable to assert itself over unscrupulous elements for reasons beyond comprehension. That is why Balochistan’s Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Magsi was apt when he squarely laid the blame for unrest on the intelligence agencies and law-enforcement machinery, which for long had neither made any inroads in the terror network nor preempted such attacks. The country and, especially, Balochistan is passing through a difficult phase and none seem to have a clue as to what would be the fate. Magsi, who had been empowered by the federal government to take stringent actions against the miscreants, nonetheless, believes that the state doesn’t seem to be effective. Many tend to agree with his synopsis. The reason is that the government of President Asif Ali Zardari owing to its pathetic political compromises with allies and adversaries is in a confused state of mind, and all its synergies are diverted at coalition hobnobbing. The army, which had successfully dealt with militancy in Swat and the tribal areas, has taken a back seat and has been waiting in the wings of political administrations to dispense its duties — as and when ordered. That is evident from the fact that Balochistan administration didn’t call in the army to aid the civil administration for reasons of political exigency. This is an alarming situation. Until and unless vested patronage to disgruntled elements comes to an end and an across the board operation is carried out against militants, things would only get from worse to worst. It’s time for apolitical action in Balochistan and elsewhere.