ISLAMABAD: Amid a sharp increase in the number of attacks, Pakistani authorities have announced a plan to launch a comprehensive military offensive against separatist militant groups in the country’s southwestern Balochistan province.
The surge in attacks in the province had prompted Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to summon a high-profile meeting of civil and military officials in Islamabad on Tuesday to discuss the security situation in Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.
“The participants approved a comprehensive military operation against terrorist organisations operating in Balochistan, including the Majeed Brigade (a suicide squad), Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), and Baloch Raaji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS), who are targeting innocent civilians and foreign nationals to scuttle Pakistan’s economic progress by creating insecurity at the behest of hostile external powers,” said a statement issued by the PM’s office after the meeting.
The meeting was attended by members of Sharif’s cabinet, provincial CMs and the chiefs of the three armed services. “The army chief reiterated the Pakistan military’s unwavering resolve to eliminate all threats to national security and provide robust support to govt’s initiatives aimed at ensuring peace and stability,” the statement read. It, however, did not give any details about when the military operation would be launched and in which parts of the province.
Restive Balochistan, Pakistan’s biggest province by area but poor in terms of development, has been home to a nearly two-decade-old insurgency by separatist militant groups of ethnic Baloch nationals who carry out frequent attacks against the govt, army, and Chinese interests in the region. The insurgents say they are fighting what they see as unfair exploitation of the province’s mineral and gas wealth by the federation at the centre.
Pakistan’s govt and military deny the charge that they are exploiting Balochistan’s resources and have long been blaming neighbouring India, Afghanistan, and Iran for fomenting trouble in the province.
Thousands of Chinese nationals are currently stationed in Pakistan working on Beijing’s investment projects, such as a strategic port, economic zones, road and infrastructure, and gold and copper mine projects, under the banner of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), part of Beijing’s multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative. The CPEC aims to connect China’s northern Xinjiang province with Pakistan’s port city of Gwadar, Balochistan. Since Beijing launched its projects in Pakistan a decade ago, nearly two dozen of its citizens have been killed in terrorist attacks in Pakistan.