The Pakistani National assembly was posed with a query on the regrouping of insurgent groups in Balochistan. The Pakistani interior ministry, in a written reply to the National Assembly, confirmed that the “pro-independence” groups were indeed regrouping in Balochistan and that the government is taking measures to quell the resistance.
According to the details, Dr. Sobia Shazia Soomro, a politician from Pakistan’s Peoples Party and a member of the National Assembly, posed the query on the regrouping of insurgent bodies in Balochistan. She asked it was true that the “anti-Pakistan terror outfits are regrouping in Balochistan via Sistan, and if yes, details thereof along with action plan thereof, if any”.
In its response, the interior ministry of Pakistan stated: “Yes, anti-Pakistan terror outfits are regrouping in Balochistan via Sistan.” The response, attributed to Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed, also mentioned that the government is taking measures to tackle the long-running insurgency in Balochistan.
According to the response placed before the National Assembly on Monday, the National Intelligence Coordination Committee (NICC) has been institutionalized to integrate all federal and provincial intelligence grids for effective and timely countermeasures. The response also said that the western border is being manned and fenced and an effective border management system is being implanted to stop the alleged movement of insurgents to the neighboring countries.
“Persistent intelligence-based operations are being undertaken to neutralize terror organizations,” the response stated, adding that operational capabilities of the counterterrorism apparatus were being enhanced. The military operations in question have been a source of great concern among the Baloch political and nationalist circles.
Activists, investigative journalists, and nationalist leaders have accused the Pakistani forces of carrying out grave human rights violations during these operations. The operations are often violent, indiscriminate, and destructive – wherever the forces go, they leave indelible scars of devastation on the local populations. Only recently, The Balochistan Post obtained video footage of a gunship helicopter carrying out operations in Kalat and Sibbi.
The Pakistani forces have been documented in the past for such indiscriminate military operations.
The Baloch insurgency has seen a rapid rise in the past few years. The insurgent groups have carried out hundreds of documented attacks on the Pakistani security forces in different areas of Balochistan and beyond. The Baloch Liberation Army, the fiercest insurgent group, has carried out several high-profile self-sacrificial attacks on Pakistani and Chinese establishments in Balochistan and Karachi.