Speaking on the floor of the Senate on Thursday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik gave a detailed account of the situation in Balochistan. The Interior Minister named elements who were responsible for enacting it. According to his version of the acts of terrorism, there have been 299 IED explosions, and deaths of 179 Frontier Constabulary soldiers. Abduction cases numbered 502 since 2010; 89 policemen and 872 civilians lost their lives and 1,177 people were injured. While his reference to “external aggression“ and the “world power game” was somewhat vague. Although he mentioned intervention from Afghanistan, he was explicit in charging the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), aided by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). His words: “LeJ is one of the main organizations that, in support with the BLA, is involved in major terrorist activities in the province…..Baloch separatists and the nationalists have links with the banned outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and other proscribed organizations.” This revelation, rather reaffirmation of the official agencies’ position, will not, however, calm public anxiety; for, if the government is in the know of the culprits, the people wonder what prevents it from moving against them. Are the BLA and LeJ outfits so elusive that they have not been able to be hunted down? The foreign hand would most likely automatically disappear with no local sources to work through.But the Interior Minister’s account, for all its statistics and the owning of the murderous events by the BLA that he has pointed to, fails to solve the riddle. For, in the recent hearings to probe the issue, the Supreme Court has, repeatedly been singling out the ISI and the FC for being responsible for the situation. Mr Malik simply rejected this charge. Tellingly, presidential spokesman and PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar told the Upper House that the Centre was not treating (the Balochistan issue) properly. He observed that the biggest problem was the phenomenon of missing persons, besides the involvement of certain foreign elements. His six-point agenda to solve the problem stressed that rather than denying the issue of missing persons, it should be acknowledged; recommendations of the Commission on Enforced Disappearances implemented; Anti-Terrorism Act amended; and the International Convention on Prevention of All Persons from Disappearances ratified by the government.The highly complex nature of the problem notwithstanding, there can be no justification for the inaction in bringing the “powers-that-be” that Senator Babar mentioned into the legal framework. The suggestions of Senator Babar ought to be the starting point in untying the tangled knot of Balochistan.