Balochistan today stands at a difficult crossroads. One road leads towards connectivity, investment, political participation and economic opportunity. The other is being forced upon the province by terrorist organisations seeking to turn highways into checkpoints, trains into battlefields and public institutions into targets. Pakistan’s response, therefore, cannot be framed as a choice between security and development. Balochistan needs both.

The Pakistan Army and other security forces require the capacity and national backing to dismantle terrorist networks, while the federal and provincial governments must ensure that the space recovered from terrorism is filled with roads, schools, hospitals, jobs, accountable governance and political inclusion.

Questions involving provincial resources, representation, employment, missing persons, political participation and development deserve constitutional and political engagement. They cannot, however, justify killing passengers, attacking workers, taking hostages or bombing infrastructure.

Questions involving provincial resources, representation, employment, missing persons, political participation and development deserve constitutional and political engagement. They cannot, however, justify killing passengers, attacking workers, taking hostages or bombing infrastructure.

The urgency of that challenge was demonstrated again on August 31 and September 1. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations, terrorists established an illegal checkpoint in the Nokcha area of Chagai district along the N-40 Quetta-Taftan Highway, apparently seeking to extort money and disrupt civilian movement. Security forces intervened and killed 11 terrorists,........

© Daily Times