[Current Events] Over 100 Casualties In Quetta Pakistan In Bomb Blasts

[Asheekay]

January 10th, multiple bomb blasts in the western province of Pakistan, namely Balochistan, claim over 100 casualties. This has sent a shockwave throughout the country despite the prevailing bad situation of security in the country.

Complete story at
VOA Mobile - English

Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan on Friday declared three days or
mourning after multiple
bombings there killed almost
100 people and injured dozens more. Two sectarian bomb attacks and another bombing apparently targeting security personnel in the southern city of Quetta, along with a fourth
explosion in Pakistan's northwest, drove Thursday's
final death toll to well over
100. The headlines in the national papers described the multiple bombings as a "bloodbath" and a day of "carnage."

[Asheekay]

The security situation in the country has been in a shaky condition since 2001 when the former administrator Gen. Pervez Musharaf decided to allow American airstrikes from Pakistani soil. This has angered the Islamic right wing public and politicians who have supported the Taliban regime during and after its establishment.

The Taliban, still holding sympathies from the Islamic extremists have been causing insurgency in the country and have been responsible for more than 100 bomb blasts in which more than 2000 people have lost their lives and a lot more have been crippled or economically destroyed.

[Commissar MercZ]

I've also noted that the religious right in the country have gotten support from populist appeals to people's anger over the economic situation in the country as well as corruption. It does not help I feel that the government is split among itself, it seems the judicial and executive spar a lot, it doesn't create a lot of confidence among people about the effectiveness of the government. It also seems most of these victims were Shi'a, and that obviously doesn't help much with minorities in the country having faith in the government to actually protect them.

It also does not help that all these factors end up making the government seem to be as ineffective as a rock.

[Asheekay]

You're right.

I forgot to mention that almost all of the victims belonged to Shia sect.

The families of the victims placed the dead bodies on the main highways and protested against this carnage for three days and nights. They were demanding that either the province be put under Governor Administration, or its control be transferred to the military. The former is a condition where the regular provincial assembly is dissolved and the governor [appointed by the President] takes the administrative powers.

Update on the news is that this has been implemented, Balochistan provincial assembly has been dissolved and the province has been put under Governor Administration.

Another [unrelated] update on the country's situation is that the supreme court has dispatched warrants of arrest for 14 members of the national assembly ... including the prime minister!
They were found guilty in a rental power corruption case.

Yes, the administration and the judiciary over there quarrel quite excessively.

[Commissar MercZ]

Is there any attempt to gain on this from Baloch nationalists? They seem to have been dormant for sometime, and AFAIK most Balochs aren't Shi'a but rather Sunni. Still, the tension is there I think since there has often been issues with the way government money has been applied through out the country. It is from my understanding that the western border regions are both underdeveloped and receive less funding too.

Dissolving the regional assembly is rather drastic, they must be confident they can keep matters under control if they are essentially subordinating it closer to the central government.

[Asheekay]

Yes the BLA [Baloch Liberation Army] have been dormant for sometime. At least they have stayed away from bombing or pulling those annoying rocket launcher attacks at the gas pipelines for sometime.

The political and security situation in Balochistan is far worse than they convey it on the media. The national flag of pakistan is found nowhere except the provincial assembly headquarters and the military headquarters. If you roam around visibly carrying a national flag, you'd find yourself dead very soon.

The incident definitely goes to the advantage of the regional separatists although its religious discrimination [almost all shia victims] serves to somewhat thwarts its political usage.

Yes, the province public does suffer heavily from sentiments of unfair resource management and neglection. By the country's constitution, the resources are to be divided throughout the provinces according to their population, not the origin of these resources. It happens that Balochistan is the main [and only] resource of gas to the country and the revenue collected by gas bills every month goes mostly to punjab which holds the largest population in the country. There are also rumours of large copper, coal, oil and gold resources in those scorching sands, waiting to be excavated.

And to top those separatist sentiments, the former [Gen Musharaf] government took out a very prominent and influential politician and key figure in the province, namely Akber Bugti in a military operation.

Read also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akbar_Bugti

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugti_militia