In a nation almost constantly reeling under years of repeated bombings by militants, the one on Aug. 8 is still a shock. A massive blast in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province and home to the leadership of the Afghan Taliban, killed more than 70 people, including at least 55 lawyers. In a flash, almost one-third of the members of the Quetta Bar Association were dead.
This was a particularly callous attack. The lawyers had congregated at the emergency ward of the main government hospital after hearing that their colleague, Bilal Anwar Kasi, had been shot dead. The attackers waited until the lawyers gathered before they set off the bomb, which also killed hospital workers and journalists.
I spent two weeks in Quetta in June 2014 doing research for a Human Rights Watch report. Almost every lawyer that we met, all deeply committed to civil liberties, is either dead or critically injured. I also lost my good friend Arbab Gulzareen Kasi. "You don't understand many things," Gulzareen once said to me. "It is because you and I live in different countries." I knew what he meant. I live in Lahore, Punjab, "mainland Pakistan," home to the country's elite. Though surrounded by war and subject to frequent terror attacks, Punjab is nevertheless tranquil compared with Balochistan, which has been the site of unabated sectarian, government and Taliban violence for years.