Imagine taking all the lessons we’ve received from our arduous tango with the Taliban, and applying them to another malady creeping over us; one that has carried out two deadly attacks on our civilians in two days.

The UBA, standing for United Baloch Army, is an abbreviation that I learned when I arrived at work at my hospital in Islamabad, and with a sinking heart, saw news vans lined outside the emergency department. In future, I worry, the UBA may well become part of the Pakistani vernacular just as the dreaded TTP has.

We have learned, in our lengthy communion with our oppressors, that terrorist attacks only occur because we’re ‘asking for them’, either by continually allying ourselves with the West, or by tolerating and even conducting military operations against terrorist outfits.

We have learned, that for every innocent that dies during counter-terrorist operations (or goes missing without a trace), 10 others are created.

We’ve been informed that the militants we’re fighting against are basically our own people who have come to resent us for the way we’ve been treating them, and even though their actions are condemnable, their resentment isn’t quite unreasonable.

We’re told each time, even before the smoke dissipates from the blast zone and full scale devastation looms into view, that the attack is a conspiracy to malign the terrorist organisation and hamper the peace process. ‘Malign’, as in, blemish the sterling and saintly reputation they’ve worked gruellingly to attain.

To lay out tea and biscuits at the negotiation table for one terrorist organisation, and pretend you’re not home when the other rings your doorbell, is indicative of either unequal significance, or unequal lobbying.

My assessment is that separatist outfits like the BLA, BRA and UBA will falter for multiple reasons, but notably because of an atrocious PR campaign. Without a tendril attached firmly to the political mainstream, these organisations are likely to blow away into the shadows of irrelevance where they’ve spent a greater part of their lives.

While the TTP is well on its way up from a ‘terrorist organisation’ to being legitimised as a ‘political party with controversial tactics’, the Baloch separatists have few apologists to woo the crowds for them.

One would think it’d be easier to defend the Baloch terrorist groups. For one, they are uninterested in amending the constitution of the entire country, and want to dictate their terms only over the region they’re claiming independence for.

Also read: System in disarray

I, personally, don’t believe in softening the public’s rage against either of them.

It’s high time the terrorists learn that once they kill an innocent civilian who is going about buying fruit for his family at a bazaar, they forfeit their right to tell us their heart-wrenching daastans and dismal origin stories. I have no interest in making it appear as if the terrorists had diminished responsibility to act humanely, because they themselves had been wronged at some point.

I am, however, eagerly waiting to see how the supporters of the peace process with the TTP will be responding to the UBA.

How about getting them to stop the aggression in exchange for us relinquishing control of Kalat?

How about releasing 16 Baloch separatists from imprisonment as a goodwill gesture?

How about information on missing persons to placate the UBA, and negotiate a cessation of attacks on trains and gas pipelines by them and their allied groups?

I’m sincerely hoping this is not how things play out, for I doubt we can afford to give enough away to keep two terrorist groups happy at the same time.