Between July 6-9, coordinated violent episodes shook Balochistan. Three major terrorist attacks against multiple targets in Ziarat, Bela-Winder, Chaghi, Khuzdar (resulting in nearly 100 deaths on both sides) and a sit-in on the outskirts of Quetta cannot be viewed as the work of a rag-tag army acting on its own. These strikes – a smaller version of Harof-1 (August 2024) and Harof-11 (January 2026) – betray a pattern growing in ferocity, hard to imagine without sustained planning, logistical coordination, and material resources.

The continued trajectory of violence reminds us of two unavoidable phenomena that Balochistan faces: an acute governance crisis lorded over by people whose legitimacy is suspect (in the public eye), and external exploiters of internal faultlines, including demands for fundamental rights.

I call the former "the mother of all ills" – a ruling architecture that rests on selection, abhors merit, relies on security as the panacea for every challenge, and hardly inspires public respect. The ensuing disconnect between the rulers and the ruled has caused multiple internal faultlines, open to exploitation by both internal and external enemies.

Regarding the events, I find it irresistible to quote what I have written earlier to provide context to "external drivers and exploiters" of Balochistan's faultlines. The latest string of insurrection at multiple locations reminds me of an India Today cover story published on 9........

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