The killing of 27 police officers near Mangi Dam in Pakistan’s Balochistan province has exposed serious weaknesses in the country’s internal-security structure.

Nine officers were killed when militants attacked a police post guarding a pumping station in Ziarat district. The attackers abducted 18 other officers, who were later found shot dead in nearby mountains. The scale of the attack, and the militants’ ability to leave the area with so many captives, raised questions about preparedness, intelligence, communications and the availability of reinforcements. 

Relatives of the slain officers held a prolonged sit-in beside their coffins, demanding justice and stronger action against those responsible. The Balochistan government suspended the Ziarat superintendent of police and established an inquiry committee to examine deployment, command, response and coordination among all law-enforcement and security agencies. The committee was also instructed to determine whether negligence, operational failure or a breakdown in coordination contributed to the losses. 

These developments do not by themselves prove that Pakistan’s police and military institutions are in open conflict. They do, however, point to a growing gap between the institutions that carry frontline risk and those that control the country’s larger counterterrorism resources and strategy.

Police on an expanding frontline

That imbalance is increasingly........

© Khaama Press