In the heart of Balochistan, Quetta’s law and order teeters on the brink as a nationwide fuel crunch sidelines police patrols. Sparked by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s emergency energy curbs following West Asian flare-ups, the shortage has left patrol cars idle, heightening public dread of a crime surge in this insurgency-plagued city.
Media investigations uncover a dire picture: multiple police outposts in Quetta operate with skeletal fuel supplies. Monthly allocations of 70 liters per station fail to sustain even basic operations, forcing vehicles to sit unused for most of the month. Daily quotas have plummeted to two liters, rendering systematic street surveillance nearly impossible.
Residents report eerie quiet on usually vigilant routes, with fears mounting that thieves, smugglers, and militants could thrive unchecked. This comes at a precarious time for Balochistan, where separatist violence and cross-border threats demand unwavering police presence.
The root cause traces to a high-level meeting chaired by Sharif on April 6, imposing blanket restrictions to conserve resources. Nationwide, excluding Sindh, markets, malls, departmental stores, and daily goods shops must close by 8 PM from April 7 onward. Affected regions include Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (with a 9 PM extension), Balochistan, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Kashmir territories.
Food outlets, wedding venues, and home events face 10 PM deadlines, sparing only pharmacies. These steps aim to slash energy use amid global oil volatility, but critics argue they disproportionately harm security and economy.
As night falls over Quetta without the reassuring hum of police sirens, the fuel fiasco underscores Pakistan’s fragile balancing act between conservation and control. Urgent calls grow for targeted aid to frontline forces, lest the crisis ignite a broader security meltdown in one of South Asia’s most unstable frontiers.
