Sinking deeper and deeper
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry deserves credit for ensuring the release of four of the seven missing persons by conducting the hearing of a case at the SC registry in Quetta on Friday pertaining to the law and order situation and violations of human rights in Balochistan. The bench also ordered that the remaining three be produced before the court on April 9, failing which the IG and other concerned police officers would be suspended.
The bench decided to hear this particular case following the failure of the provincial government and its law enforcement apparatus to recover the persons kidnapped from Saryab Road Quetta on March 1. It is indeed shocking that, while the apex court was hearing the petition, two bullet-riddled bodies were found in Mastung district, and only a day after the son of Director Colleges Quetta disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
The Chief Justice went to the extent of saying that keeping in view the situation of Balochistan, it seemed that the higher judiciary needed to sit in Quetta instead of Islamabad. It might well be an attempt to shake the federal and provincial authorities out of their complacency following their failure to normalise the situation. Apart from the announcement of the so-called Aghaz-i-Haqooq-i-Balochistan package, no serious attempt has been made to bring the people of Balochistan in the national mainstream. They have been left with no choice but to rebel against the system and listen to the separatist elements.
The government will have to focus its attention to this strife-torn province where people are up in arms against frequent incidents of mysterious disappearances of innocent civilians and discoveries of mutilated bodies. Mere apologies by the ruling elite will not assuage the rage and resentment of the angry Baloch nationalists who want to see practical measures being taken to resolve the prevalent crisis. There is hardly any time to waste. Those in authority will have to change their priorities to restore peace to Balochistan.