The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, expressed concern over the human rights violations in Balochistan and said that a larger bench of the Supreme Court would be formed soon to hear the matter. His need to speak out was shown by the fact that he spoke in Quetta, an appropriate setting. He did so in the course of an address to a conference on environmental law, apparently a subject without direct relevance to the matter he chose to mention. The impunity with which there is mayhem in the province was illustrated by the fact that, as the Chief Justice mentioned, decomposed bodies of missing persons continued to be found, even though the efforts of the Supreme Court have led to the recovery of 95 missing persons. The province is also seeing a spate of killings of settlers, including educationists, as well as sectarian killings. The Chief Justice referred obliquely to the latter when he mentioned that the Balochistan High Court had taken suo moto notice of the Mastung and Akhtarabad incidents. However, the former needs addressing, and perhaps it needs the Supreme Court to take notice of it. The Supreme Court has already taken suo moto notice of the Karachi target killings, and has given its directions in that case. Perhaps that experience is leading it to go into violations of fundamental rights in Balochistan and, as Chief Justice Chaudhry said, gather and review all evidence in connection with lawlessness and violation of fundamental rights in Balochistan. This would lead the Supreme Court from missing persons, which is just one class of violation with which the province is acquainted, and extend it to sectarian and anti-settler violence. Chief Justice Chaudhrys saying that it was the responsibility of the federal and provincial governments to provide security of life and property to the citizens was also significant. This would also help uncover the links between foreign hands meddling in the province and those forces involved in violence. It should not be forgotten that the violence is being committed by foreign forces, as testified to in various in-camera briefings, and though it is positive that the judiciary is paying attention to the pressing problems of the province, there is only so much that it can do. The real burden has to be borne by the government, which has placed its reliance on the implementation of the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package. The Army's attempt to recruit the youth of the province will not be sufficient either. What is needed is for there to be a genuine attempt to solve the problems of the province. If government is not willing to do so, whichever institution is, will be applauded.