At least 14 people were killed and over 10 injured in an explosion near a polio centre near Quetta. It has been confirmed by the Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti that TTP claimed responsibility for the attack on Facebook, and in an email sent to journalists. Bugti has made it clear that we will not bow down before terrorists adding that the blast was an effort to disrupt peace in Balochistan. Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Sanaullah while strongly condemning the blast directed the police to submit a report about the incident promptly. Our President and Prime Minister have also strongly condemned the blast, releasing a statement assuring people that the government is committed to ‘stamp out terrorism from the country and the operation will continue till elimination of all terrorism’.

Innocent lives have yet again been lost only because we have decided to not tackle the root causes of terrorism. The TTP remains the most sinister enemy. The most horrible thing about them is not just that they are willing to kill, but that they are willing to go after children. While APS was an attack on our young, attacks on polio centres and polio workers is an attack on our future. The solution is not the end of the polio program, and many a mindlessly backward men will argue that the program needs to end, to end terror. It is a dangerous disease, and neither parent nor terrorist has a right to give a child a cripplingly painful illness. What needs to end is any sympathy for terrorists organisations like the TTP and their goals and any tolerance for arguments against polio drops. The government’s lack of control over the security of its health policy and institutionalised radicalisation emitting from madrassas and religious parties and outfits is where all policy reform has to be directed.