ISLAMABAD: A surge in daring militant attacks across Pakistan’s volatile provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has raised questions about the country’s internal security situation. Pakistan interior minister Mohsin Naqvi said the attacks were aimed at derailing the SCO heads of govt meeting in Islamabad on Oct 15-16.
Amid heightened political polarisation in Pakistan, both Baloch separatists and Islamic militants, known as the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have intensified their attacks on security personnel and their facilities in the country’s southwest and northwest.
The Baloch separatists also target people of Punjabi ethnicity in the province.
On Aug 26, more than 70 people were killed in targeted killings and suicide bombings in different districts of Balochistan, while in Kulachi tehsil of Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In a separate incident, a senior army officer, Lt Col Khalid Ameer, and three of his relatives, were kidnapped by TTP fighters when they were meeting people on their father’s death in Dera Ismail Khan. The army’s media wing, however, said on Sunday they have been released due to the role played by tribal elders.
When the separatist militant outfit, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), bombed a railway bridge linking Balochistan to the rest of Pakistan, attacked police and military posts, and targeted buses and trucks on a major highway, Pakistan’s Army chief General Asim Munir was meeting General Li Qiaoming, Commander of the People’s Liberation Army, in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. The bombings and shootings on August 25-26 were the deadliest in years in Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.
Former Balochistan chief minister, Abdul Malik Baloch, said disappointment is pushing people into insurgency. “Many Baloch are losing faith in Islamabad because of what they perceive to be its political intervention in the province. Political activists tell me that democracy here is a fraud. They feel we are wasting their time,” Baloch said.
BLA’s coordinated attacks in Balochistan on Aug 25–26 demonstrated their growing strength. It is believed that US military hardware and weaponry have found their way into the hands of Pakistani militant organisations. Military equipment and weapons, worth billions of dollars, were left behind by the US and international forces following their withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. BLA’s acquisition of modern weapons, security experts believe, has enhanced its combat capabilities.
Majority of BLA’s sophisticated strikes are thought to have been executed by the group’s suicide squad, known as Majeed Brigade.
Islamabad blames Kabul for patronising Baloch separatists and the TTP. Qari Fasihuddin Fitrat, the military chief of Afghan Taliban, denied the accusation saying the militants plan and execute attacks from within Pakistan.
Amid heightened political polarisation in Pakistan, both Baloch separatists and Islamic militants, known as the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have intensified their attacks on security personnel and their facilities in the country’s southwest and northwest.
The Baloch separatists also target people of Punjabi ethnicity in the province.
On Aug 26, more than 70 people were killed in targeted killings and suicide bombings in different districts of Balochistan, while in Kulachi tehsil of Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In a separate incident, a senior army officer, Lt Col Khalid Ameer, and three of his relatives, were kidnapped by TTP fighters when they were meeting people on their father’s death in Dera Ismail Khan. The army’s media wing, however, said on Sunday they have been released due to the role played by tribal elders.
When the separatist militant outfit, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), bombed a railway bridge linking Balochistan to the rest of Pakistan, attacked police and military posts, and targeted buses and trucks on a major highway, Pakistan’s Army chief General Asim Munir was meeting General Li Qiaoming, Commander of the People’s Liberation Army, in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. The bombings and shootings on August 25-26 were the deadliest in years in Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.
Former Balochistan chief minister, Abdul Malik Baloch, said disappointment is pushing people into insurgency. “Many Baloch are losing faith in Islamabad because of what they perceive to be its political intervention in the province. Political activists tell me that democracy here is a fraud. They feel we are wasting their time,” Baloch said.
BLA’s coordinated attacks in Balochistan on Aug 25–26 demonstrated their growing strength. It is believed that US military hardware and weaponry have found their way into the hands of Pakistani militant organisations. Military equipment and weapons, worth billions of dollars, were left behind by the US and international forces following their withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. BLA’s acquisition of modern weapons, security experts believe, has enhanced its combat capabilities.
Majority of BLA’s sophisticated strikes are thought to have been executed by the group’s suicide squad, known as Majeed Brigade.
Islamabad blames Kabul for patronising Baloch separatists and the TTP. Qari Fasihuddin Fitrat, the military chief of Afghan Taliban, denied the accusation saying the militants plan and execute attacks from within Pakistan.
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