Balochistan Chief Minister Aslam Raisani, talking to the press in Parliament House in Islamabad on Thursday while on a visit there, admitted that there was a foreign hand in the worsening law and order situation in the province. As the chief executive responsible for law and order, Nawab Aslam would have to answer about the very obvious deterioration there. His declaration was no revelation, but it should not provide an excuse to do nothing. The Interior Minister had long ago conceded that there was interference in Balochistan by a foreign hand, in particular India. India has not used anything new in Balochistan, but in Afghanistan to obtain consulates in cities just across from Balochistan. These consulates act as hives of activity against Pakistan, and Nawab Aslam is right that these enemy agents have damaging law and order as their favoured activity. The federal government should not rest without taking action, and should not only bring this to the attention of the USA but also remove the causes which allow India to exploit the situation among the Baloch. That implies removing the grievances among them, which in turn means making the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e Balochistan package deliver for all of the people of the province. The US's encouragement of India in Afghanistan, must now be suspended, given Indian state-sponsored terrorism. India, instead of limiting itself to Afghanistan, has used it against Pakistan, in Balochistan.
Nawab Aslam should also be aware that the worsening law and order situation in Balochistan is evoking concern all over the country, even if the federal government is still blithe, the President’s apology and the holding of a Cabinet meeting in Quetta have not concealed the worsening of the law and order situation there. The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who was elevated to the Supreme Court after heading its High Court, hinted that the Supreme Court might hear the case on the province’s law and order in Quetta. The case had been filed by the President of the Quetta Bar Association, and is being heard in the court’s principal seat. Already, the Chief Justice noted that the provincial government did not seem serious about law and order. The federal government should not be apologetic about protecting the national interest, and should be willing to give the Balochistan government the backing it needs, including flushing out those foreign elements Nawab Aslam pointed towards.