OF all the sense and nonsense spoken about the Balochistan situation, two statements stand out: Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti’s truth about the 4,000 miles of roads in the province, and Interior Minister (Pakistani cricket’s pallbearer) Mohsin Naqvi’s SHO balderdash.

Mr Bugti spoke the truth when he said his province had 4,000 miles of highways, and that it was easy for terrorists to find targets and kill civilians. This painful truth is reflected in the comfort with which the terrorists checked the identities of the passengers of a bus on a freeway and murdered them for ethnic reasons. The chief minister’s statement highlights the one basic principle of war on terrorism. You cannot put out fire by tackling flames; you target the source. To wit, you have to destroy the terrorists’ cells, the hideouts of their leaders and, more important, the sources of their financial and military support — local and foreign. An SHO cannot do this. If there is one, let the nation know who that genius is.

Quite often, the seriousness of the issue falls victim to the mantra about the need for wining over the Baloch people and removing their grievances. Of course, given the socioeconomic backwardness of Pakistan’s largest........

© Dawn