Kakar, an advocate of the Supreme Court, had rushed in panic to the Combined Civil Hospital, that “resembled a battlefield”, on Aug 8, 2016. Lawyers had crammed into Quetta’s Combined Civil Hospital’s Emergency Department to mourn the death of a colleague, Bilal Anwar Kasi, President Balochistan Bar Association, who had been shot dead earlier in the day, when a suicide bomber blew himself up – killing at least 74 people, most of them lawyers, and injuring over 100 people.
Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, a splinter group of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the bombing.
READ MORE: Bringing up the bodies
Asal Khan Achakzai recalls that his brother Aimal Khan Achakzai would always advise him to avoid crowded places. “He’d say, ‘Get home as soon as you hear of a blast’. When I came to know about the blast, I tried to call him, not knowing he was one of the victims killed in the attack,” adds Achakzai.
The government of Pakistan promised to compensate the victims’ families and provide jobs to widows and orphans. However, “Only a few lawyers were compensated,” says Advocate Basir Khan
Aimal Achakzai hailed from Chaman near the Afghanistan border. He acquired his basic education from Chaman and graduated from Islamic International University, Islamabad.
Zia-ud-din Agha, a sole breadwinner of a family, lost his life in the blast. Zia and Aimal studied law and started legal practice together.
The government of Pakistan promised to compensate the victims’ families and provide jobs to widows and orphans. However, “Only a few lawyers were compensated,” says Advocate Basir Khan.
A commission was formed to investigate the incident. Justice Faez Isa was entrusted with the job. He stated in his report that “the state, which has receded in the face of those spreading hatred and murders, must re-exert itself.”
Afrasiab Khattak, a former senator and senior political analyst, says: “The state has not moved forward to make policy reforms and have never learnt from the past. Balochistan is outsourced to terrorism and insurgency by the state”.
READ MORE: Resurgence Of Suicide Bombings: Strategic Tools At Work To Destabilize Pakistan
Balochistan is no stranger to violence. According to the Center for Research & Security Studies, about 110 terrorism and counter-terrorism attacks with 472 casualties were reported in Balochistan in 2022.
Afrasiab Khattak adds, “State follows misguided policies in Balochistan. ‘Project Taliban’, built and nourished by the Pakistani state, is the root cause of distress.”
On August 1, 2023, two police personnel, escorting the polio vaccination team, were killed in Quetta. On August 2, Jawad Hazara, a policeman belonging to the Hazara community, was shot dead on Spinny Road Quetta. Earlier in April, two policemen were killed and 15 got injured in a bomb blast in Kandahari Bazaar.
Khattak says, “Violence is so normalised in Balochistan that nobody is bothered about it.”
Every time there is a bloodbath in Pakistan, empty promises are made by both civilian and military officials and start a fierce blame game
Analyst Amir Rana thinks, “The cross-border terrorism issue is complicated. Pakistan needs to find a solution through policy reforms.”
Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, who was the chief minister of Balochistan in 2016, blamed the Indian intelligence agency for the blast. The opposition party of that time, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, blamed Pakistan Muslim league-Nawaz for the attack, the army chief on his visit to Quetta said it was an attack on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Maulana Fazlur Rehman, leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, told reporters outside the parliament building that we free ourselves of all burdens by blaming the secret agencies of the neighbouring countries.
READ MORE: Pakistan’s Culture Of Compromising Sovereignty
Every time there is a bloodbath in Pakistan, empty promises are made by both civilian and military officials and start a fierce blame game. They must end this and the government must assume the responsibility of compensating the victims’ families.