Interior minister says recent terror activities initiated to sabotage SCO summit.  Govt has identified clear links about who are behind these terror incidents.

ISLAMABAD  -  Ruling out the possibility of any military operation in Balochistan, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Friday told the Senate that the recent wave of terrorism in the province was meant to sabotage the Islamabad-hosted Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, scheduled for upcoming October.

Speaking in the house over the deadly attacks in the province, the interior minister said that the last Sunday night terror incidents were not normal in nature, were fully planned and more than one militant group executed them.

“It was a planning to disrupt the summit that we are hosting…as many wanted that it should not take place (as planned),” Senator Naqvi said, noting it was basically a conspiracy against the SCO heads of governments’ meeting.

“We have identified clear links about who are behind these incidents,” he said.

At least 50 people, including 14 security men, lost their lives in different regions of Balochistan as armed groups set fire to vehicles, attacked police stations and blew up railway tracks. In clearance operations, security forces killed 21 militants.

Mohsin Naqvi informed the upper house of the parliament that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took important decisions, the other day, while chairing an important meeting of the Apex Committee in Quetta. The premier held a detailed meeting with all the stakeholders and political parties of the province, he added.

The minister made it clear that no one will be spared, at any cost, who did not accept the state and has taken up arms against Pakistan. Such people are terrorists for us, he said, explaining this was one of the decisions taken by the PM during his visit to the provincial capital. He urged the need to get united over this issue.

“Those (living in Balochistan), who accept the state and Pakistan, will be given due respect and are honourable for us … and we are making all out efforts to address their grievances and will do so in future,” he said.

Responding to the concerns of lawmakers about the legality of the Apex Committee, he said one shouldn’t have any doubt in mind that parliament was supreme and would remain so.

Talking about other decisions taken about Balochistan, Naqvi said the PM had allocated Rs five billion for the capacity building of Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the province. He said another Rs eight billion – Rs one billion for each division of the province – had been allocated.

These funds would be used to “solve minor issues” of these areas with the support of the local MNAs and MPAs, he explained.

“Another biggest issue in the province is the shortage of those officers, who are the federal government representatives,” he underlined.

The interior minister said that a new policy has been announced and around 40 officers would be dispatched to the province within fortnight.

“We are making all out efforts to take on board all political stakeholders of the province but there should be a clarity that no one will be spared who has initiated an armed struggle (against the state),” he concluded.

Leader of the Opposition Syed Shibli Faraz in his response criticized the earlier statement of the interior minister that a police SHO (station house officer) was enough to deal with Baloch insurgency. He said the solution of the province did not lie either in dolling out a few billion rupees to it or sending bureaucrats over there but there was a need to resolve it politically by taking on board ‘actual” stakeholders. “We will have to engage with the people of Balochsitan.”

Talking about the incident of kidnapping of three siblings including a senior army officer by the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Dera Ismail Khan, PTI Senator Faraz said Islamabad would have to engage with Afghanistan. He deplored that the incumbent ruling coalition was in a complete “diplomatic blackout” with the neighbouring country.

Earlier speaking over the issue, JUI-F Senator Kamran Murtaza questioned the legality of the Apex Committee, saying it had no legal sanction.

Condemning the incidents of violence that killed mostly Punjab-based labourers, National Party Senator Jan Muhammad Buledi claimed that election engineering in the province during the last two national elections has made the situation of Balochistan worse. “This is because youth have lost their confidence in the system.

“Even a single political party of Balochistan will not stand by the government if any military operation is started,” he said, opposing any plan to start a new operation in the province. He urged the need to restart a dialogue with the estranged Baloch people.