Naqvi vows to pursue all terrorists in Balochistan violence

On Saturday, Home Minister Mohsin Naqvi held India squarely responsible for the recent attacks in Balochistan, alleging that New Delhi was involved in planning and supporting the incidents and promising to expose what he described as its role to the international community.

At least 92 terrorists were killed today as security forces battled a series of coordinated attacks in multiple locations in Balochistan, and 15 security personnel were also killed in combat. With the latest deaths, the number of terrorists killed in the last two days has risen to 133.

The brazen synchronized attacks were carried out by hordes of heavily armed terrorists in 12 cities including Quetta, Noshki, Dalbandin, Kalat, Gwadar, Pasni, Tump and Mastung. Security sources said “Fitna al-Hindustan” – a general term used by officials to refer to illegal Baloch terrorist groups – was behind the deadly attacks, which came a day after the army claimed it had killed 41 terrorists in two targeted operations in the Panjgur and Shaban areas of Balochistan.

In a video statement released along with Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti, the Home Minister said the way the attacks were planned and carried out, as well as the response by the police, Frontier Corps (FC) and Pakistan Army, reflected the scale and severity of the threat.

“Behind every attack there is a story. The way our soldiers defended themselves and the way the terrorists were chased shows that none of them managed to escape,” he said, adding that the attackers had been neutralized so that no one could escape.

Naqvi praised CM Bugti’s role, describing him as brave and said his leadership from the front had boosted the morale of the security forces.

The Home Secretary paid tribute to the FC, the police and the army for tackling what he called terrorism, saying it was important for the world to understand that these were not “ordinary terrorists”, while reiterating his accusation that India was behind the attacks.

“India is behind these attacks. I can say with certainty that it planned them together with these terrorists,” he said, adding that authorities will pursue all those involved and leave no one unaccounted for.

He said authorities had almost all the information about the masterminds behind the attack and the locations from which they operate. “We will expose them to the world: the face with which they publicly meet the people and the face with which they support terrorists,” Naqvi said.

He alleged that India was providing financial support to the militants as well as assistance in planning and strategy. Still, he expressed confidence that such efforts would be defeated, as they had been in the past.

Reaffirming the resolve to eliminate terrorism, Naqvi said the federation and provinces would act together against militancy. Referring to CM Bugti, he stated that the Prime Minister could claim that terrorism has been decisively combated in the province.

CM Bugti thanked the Home Minister and said that upon hearing about the incident he immediately traveled to Quetta where a high-level meeting was held and visits were made to the Combined Military Hospital to inquire about the injured.

He said the operation had concluded, although more details were still being gathered. Condemning the killing of women and children belonging to a Baloch family in Khuzdar, he said the terrorists had entered a labor colony in Gwadar and carried out the attack.

The prime minister praised the bravery shown by the FC, police and army and said the response of the security forces had been commendable. “Their (terrorists’) morale was dropping; they tried to carry out such a big operation just to boost their morale and they tried to increase its size, but the lethality was very low,” he added.

Paying tribute to the martyrs and veterans, he said that the rebuttal and response given by the security forces was magnificent, adding that not even ten such attacks can weaken our resolve, be it the federal government, the provincial government, the armed forces or the police, we are in a very good mood.

“We just arrived after meeting the wounded; the spirit that I saw in them and the spirit that I saw after meeting the families of the martyrs: no one can even bend a single hair of this country.”

The two had earlier attended the funeral prayers of police personnel who were martyred in Saturday’s attacks.