Apart from condemnation and mourning, an apt response to the murder of a senior professor in Balochistan University in Quetta who was shot dead by unknown assailants in an obvious instance of targeted killing would be to conduct a thorough investigation. Understandably, the university closed after the tragic death. There is no question that violence is being perpetrated by those who want to see Balochistan engulfed in continuous turmoil. There is urgent need to bring the mercenary killers to book, and as the investigation unmasks those who have been pulling their strings from behind the scenes, we would be able to give solid proof to the world of the forces that have been destabilising the province. That the slain professor was teaching Urdu also suggests that the culprits intended to deny the teaching of this language in the educational institutions of the province. There has been a systematic campaign of targeting civilians, Punjabis and educators. Four university professors have been shot dead in the recent past. The killings must stop at all costs and by whatever means necessary. They are an attempt to sever Balochistan from the country, which must be resisted, and the ideal way to redress the Baloch feeling of discrimination in the development process of the country. However, it is also quite obvious that anyone with slightest degree of patriotic sentiment would not succumb to such atrocious acts of taking lives of teachers who are busy spreading knowledge among the people at large, thus opening the prospects of jobs and development. It is little wonder that some local groups even expressed their regret over the murder. That gives us a strong reason to believe that the violence and particularly target killings are being instigated by the forces that want to weaken Pakistan and in that context the bane of the province seems to be the Indo-US nexus. The government is up against a cunning and tough enemy. Efforts on a war footing are required if US and India are to be prevented from fishing in our troubled waters.