August was an extraordinarily bloody month in Pakistan, indicating a precarious internal security situation. On Aug 23, a convoy of policemen belonging to the Elite Force of Punjab was ambushed by dacoits near Machka, a small town on the border of Sindh and Punjab. At least 12 policemen were killed in the attack. Although organised gangs of dacoits have long been operating in this riverine area — called katcha in local parlance — this was a rare premeditated attack on law enforcers, a sign of the deteriorating security conditions in the area.

Days later, several much larger and bloodier incidents of terrorism took place on Aug 26 in Balochistan, claiming the lives of over 50 civilians and security personnel in Bela, Musakhel, and Kalat. In Musakhel, terrorists apparently belonging to the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) stopped vehicles on the highway and offloaded and killed 23 persons after identifying them as Punjabis through their national identity cards. An important railway bridge connecting Quetta with the rest of Pakistan was blown up in Bela.

These incidents, especially the ones in Balochistan, were extraordinary acts of terrorism. They had grave and broad geopolitical and geoeconomic ramifications, given the critical development projects being completed with the assistance of Chinese money and manpower in the area. These incidents also fitted neatly into the pattern of terrorism targeting CPEC projects.

The security establishment and the governments in the centre and Balochistan immediately sprang into action and conducted at least two high-profile meetings to........

© Dawn