Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif vows to eliminate menace of terrorism from Balochistan after large scale violence

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday pledged to eradicate the threat posed by terrorism from Balochistan after the restive province this week suffered large-scale violence by militants.

The prime minister visited the insurgency-inflicted province following multiple attacks early on Monday by the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) -- a terrorist outfit that killed more than 50 people, including 14 security personnel.

The security forces in retaliatory strikes claimed to have killed at least 21 terrorists.

Soon after he arrived in Quetta, the provincial capital, Shehbaz chaired a high-level meeting on security, which among others was attended by Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir and Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti.

Addressing the meeting, he said that terrorist organisations and the khawarij, a term used for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) rebels, devised a “wicked scheme” to launch attacks and kill innocent people.

“There has been a wave of great concern among the people across Pakistan due to the recent heartrending incident that occurred in Balochistan. Everyone is aggrieved by this incident,” the prime minister said.

“However, I think that at the moment, we have to decide that we must fully eradicate terrorism from Balochistan through our collective vision, power, and unwavering determination,” the premier asserted.

He declared that the sacrifices made by the civilians and security forces would not go to waste and expressed the resolve to eradicate terrorism under the leadership of General Munir and Bugti.

He also pledged the full support of the federal government in eliminating militancy and vowed to root out “terrorism that has surged again since 2018” from not just Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but from the entire country.

The visit of the prime minister comes as the province faces the daunting task of tackling the growing threat of militancy by the Baloch insurgents and the TTP rebels, the two main groups involved in terrorism.

Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province but, although it has more resources than other provinces, it is the least developed.

The BLA and other Baloch separatists have intensified attacks on Punjabis and Sindhis from elsewhere in Pakistan working in the region. They have also targeted foreign energy firms they accuse of exploiting the region without sharing profits.

There were at least 170 militant attacks in Balochistan last year which killed 151 civilians and 114 security personnel, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.