I served in Balochistan. It’s time to admit what isn’t working

https://arab.news/wd74p

When I joined the Police Service of Pakistan in 1988, my first posting as ASP was in Ziarat, Balochistan. Newly married, I jokingly called it my honeymoon posting. It was a peaceful district with just two police stations serving a close-knit community.

Ziarat also introduced me to its ancient juniper forests. I was told these trees grow only by inches over many years, and some have stood for centuries. Their strength came from deep roots and continuity. Like the ancient junipers, I learned an important lesson during the 1990 general elections: where communities know one another and relationships run deep, hidden actors find it much harder to manipulate events. Sadly, while the junipers grew patiently, mistrust took root among people until it hardened into today’s insurgency.

Over the next decade, I watched the province change. What had once been a routine law-and-order challenge gradually became a prolonged conflict with national and regional dimensions. I recall the kidnapping of the then deputy commissioner of Ziarat by Mullah Salam, known as Rocketi. Years later came the appalling destruction of the Quaid-e-Azam Residency. After every major incident, the official message remained the same: militants had been eliminated. Yet violence kept returning, often in new forms and with more intensity.

Peace will not come when the last militant is killed. It will come when every citizen believes the state belongs to them. - Dr. Syed Kaleem Imam

Peace will not come when the last militant is killed. It........

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