Photo: Collected
An army major has been killed in an IED blast in Balochistan, Pakistan’s restive province. At the same time, the media wing of the Pakistani military, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), has claimed that four ‘terrorists’ were killed in another operation conducted alongside it.
In a statement issued on Monday (19 October), the ISPR said a series of operations had been carried out on several hideouts of terrorists in the Shadi Kaur and Pasni areas of Balochistan’s Gwadar district and the Jattakabad area of Kalat district.
According to the statement, four terrorists were killed in the first operation in the Jattakabad area on 18 October. A large quantity of arms and ammunition was also recovered from the spot.
The second incident took place in the Shadi Kaur and Pasni areas of Gwadar district, where a series of search operations were conducted. Major Wajahat Wahid, 34, who was leading the operation, lost his life in the explosion of an improvised explosive device (IED). His home is in Lahore.
The ISPR further said search operations would continue to eliminate any other terrorists hiding in the area. Counterterrorism operations would continue under the ‘Azm-e-Istehkam’ programme approved by the Federal Apex Committee for implementing the national action plan.
The statement also said the security forces and law enforcement agencies are committed to eliminating foreign-backed terrorism from the country.
Operations stepped up
Terrorist activity in Balochistan has risen in recent years. In this situation the security forces have stepped up counterterrorism operations.
The previous day the security forces said eight terrorists ‘claimed to be backed by India’ had been killed in intelligence-based operations in Quetta, Nushki and Khuzdar districts.
On the night between 12 and 13 October the ISPR had said five people were killed in an operation on a terrorist hideout in the Washuk area.
A few days later Balochistan government officials said six members of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), two women who were preparing for suicide attacks, and two commanders of a banned organisation had been arrested in operations in various parts of the province.
According to officials, about 90 arrested terrorists have been kept at a centre where their interrogation and legal proceedings are under way. Earlier this month the country’s state media reported the killing of five terrorists in Balochistan’s Mastung district.
According to data compiled by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), the number of terrorist attacks in Balochistan rose from 83 in July to 89 in August. That is, attacks increased by 7 per cent. The report described Balochistan as the province worst affected by terrorism.
It may be noted that the Pakistan government has described several Balochistan-based armed groups as ‘Fitna al-Hindustan’. Through this term, used by the country’s military, an attempt is made to highlight India’s alleged role in creating terrorism and instability in Pakistan.
Source: Dawn
At a glance
According to data compiled by Wikipedia, ‘Azm-e-Istehkam’ is a counterterrorism operation of the Pakistan government that began in June 2024. It was approved on 22 June 2024 at a meeting of the Apex Committee on the national action plan, chaired in Islamabad by the then prime minister Shehbaz Sharif.
According to the same source, the Urdu word ‘azm’ means resolve and ‘istehkam’ means stability; the programme’s declared aim is to bring a decisive and all-out end to extremism and terrorism, with a socio-economic development component also included in it.
