Security-centric line in Balochistan not working: Pakistani daily

Pakistan needs to shed its "security-centric approach" in restive Balochistan if the government sincerely desires peace in the country's biggest province, Dawn newspaper said on Friday.

On the very day a National Security Committee meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi praised the state's efforts in Balochistan to establish peace, a police official was killed in the province along with his wife and young family members.

Also, 15 young men from Punjab intercepted near the border with Iran were separated from a larger group before being killed, "indicating a deeply troubling re-escalation of separatist militant violence" in Balochistan, the daily said in an editorial.

"The disconnect between the state's assessment of the situation in Balochistan ... and the reality in the province could not be more stark," the editorial said.

"The flawed approach of dealing with Balochistan primarily through a security prism and suggesting that state-sponsored economic development is a panacea for the province's problems continues to prevail.

"With a fresh wave of violence having seemingly been unleashed across Balochistan, urgent action is needed."

The daily said the repeated targeting of police officers appeared to be an attempt to destroy morale and sow fresh fear among the people.

It said the overall intelligence and security apparatus must be able to find and degrade whatever network was responsible for a succession of attacks on the police force.

"The security-centric approach pushed by the military leadership and meekly accepted by the Balochistan and federal governments is not working.

"Friends of Balochistan need to come together and have the courage to speak (the) truth... The status quo must not be allowed to prevail."

--IANS

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