Balochistan scene

Ordinarily, one would imagine that the new set-up, that is yet trying to find its feet, should stand in need of time enough to gauge the situation and formulate policies to redress the local people's grievances. But since these grievances are quite well known and the spadework for removing them had been done by a parliamentary committee on Balochistan constituted by the previous regime, the new government ought to have initiated some action already that could have raised hopes of the local population. The delay is leading the people to believe that even the political administration has no intention of looking into their plight. A Senator from Balochistan warned on Monday that the government's indifference was compelling the people to think in terms of independence, and another has complained of genocide.

The province has heard too often commitments like the one Senator Raza Rabbani, leader of the House in the Senate, has made. There is no point in keeping on regretting the injustices of the past, or saying that the government was committed to bring about radical changes in its policy on Balochistan, when there is hardly any sign of movement towards that end. It is time to act.