On the one hand, the army and other security outfits are widely perceived as indulging in political victimisation. Not only is there great resentment in terms of the uncounted missing persons, the clampdown on movements and individuals with ultra-nationalist leanings, too, is being fiercely resisted. Unsurprisingly, this has led to representatives of the security apparatus being targeted. On Sunday, a cycle bomb aimed at a police vehicle killed two policemen and a shopkeeper while injuring 19 others. In Hub, seven people were injured when a police checkpoint was targeted by a hand grenade.

Additionally, the province is rent by sectarian and ethnic violence, while tribal rivalries are also present. On Saturday, for example, three people were killed and as many injured when their vehicle was attacked by gunmen. All the victims belonged to the Hazara tribe. The police termed the bloody incident as sectarian. Also over the weekend, a man was shot dead on the outskirts of Quetta while in Turbat, a policeman and another man were killed when unidentified people opened fire on them. On Monday, college principal and educationist Fazle Bari was killed in a drive-by shooting that police linked to the recent wave of targeted killings. The motives in all these cases remain unclear and proper investigations are essential to the process of apprehending the assailants. Meanwhile, attacks on migrants from other provinces, particularly Punjab, are not infrequent.

The only way of bringing all this violence under control is to pick apart and then address the underlying issues. Political victimisation must cease forthwith, and the law-enforcement agencies must under all circumstances refrain from using undue force. The panacea to sectarian, ethnic and tribal violence, however, can only lie in education and development — for which the province has long been lobbying. Investment, a fairer share of the federal exchequer and royalties have been longstanding demands of the Baloch.