THE state's continued neglect of Balochistan is shameful. Little effort is apparent on the part of the government or any major political player to address the situation in a meaningful manner. Worse, there is mounting evidence that the line being taken by the state and its security apparatus is exacerbating Baloch anger and frustration. Consider the shock of the recent Eidul Azha holidays during which the bodies of six young men, 'missing' for varying lengths of times, were found in different parts of the province. The victims of these brutal murders — the bodies were riddled with bullets and bore signs of severe torture — were reportedly activists of the Baloch Student Organisation, and thought to rank amongst those held in extrajudicial custody by the security and intelligence agencies. In other words, they were what are euphemistically called 'missing persons' — picked up and held incommunicado because of suspicions related to their political affiliations. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, calling for rethinking the state's attitude towards the “people of that persistently wronged province” has rightly termed the crime “appalling and unreservedly condemnable” in a statement issued on Monday.

The possibility that the country's security apparatus is resorting to such tactics must be fully investigated and settled. The manner in which the men were killed and their bodies dumped would appear to strengthen the argument that they ranked amongst Balochistan's disappeared. The security and intelligence agencies need to come up with solid evidence that they are not involved in such practices, because suspicion will by default always fall on them in such cases. Extrajudicial detention and punishment on the part of the law-enforcement agencies are believed to be common in Pakistan. In the context of Balochistan, the issue is fast gaining incendiary proportions; for every case that is potentially one of enforced disappearance, every perceived act of high-handedness by the state and its agencies fuels the province's resentment and tendencies towards separatism. A credible probe is required into these killings, in fact into all 'enforced disappearances'; the chiefs of the intelligence agencies must produce the statements asked of them by the Supreme Court in this context.