The Rising Threat

Province’s security czar hopes this year to end militancy which, some believe, is a complex problem

QUETTA: As the new year begins, protests rage in Balochistan’s port city of Gwadar, a key node of multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project while people of the province continue to suffer from grinding poverty, lawlessness, ignorance, disease and natural disasters.

One of the greatest challenges facing the province, however, is terrorism which has reared its ugly head once again with a renewed vigor after the rise of the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.  In the outgoing year, terror attacks in Balochistan—by religious and ethnic militant groups—rose to a 5-year high. Even in the last week of December 2022, outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)  carried out coordinated attacks on security forces’ checkpoints, convoys and police stations in Quetta, Kalat, Khuzdar, Kohlu, Turbat and Hub districts of the country’s largest but most sparsely populated province.

Six security personnel embraced martyrdom and at least two others sustained injuries in two separate incidents involving an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion and a shootout with terrorists. Nine people also sustained injuries in two other bomb blasts on the same day, ie, December 25.

Talking with reference to this new wave of terror, Balochistan Home Minister Mir Ziaullah Langau said arch rival India is providing financial support to terrorist groups in a bid to destabilize Pakistan.

“The Pakistani forces are taking strict actions. There are several operations going on against armed groups. We are improving our strategy to wipe out the terrorists” he said. “We are also speeding up actions against them. We will end the new wave of terrorism this year. The war will continue until all terrorists are wiped out,” he said.

The home minister said terrorists enter Pakistan from Afghanistan as the border between the two countries is huge and porous and stopping every single person is impossible. He said border control will remain a problem until fencing of the border is completed.

Around 20,000 people cross the border crossing at Chaman on a daily basis and terrorists also infiltrate Pakistan using the crossing. Mir Ziaullah Langau said during the rule of Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan territory was used to launch attacks inside Pakistan. “When Afghan Taliban returned to power in August 2021, Pakistan asked them to ensure that terrorists do not use their territory against it.  The Taliban had later facilitated indirect talks between Islamabad and the TTP, an attempt that could not yield desired outcomes.”

The home minister, however, claimed that the Afghan Taliban are still willing to play a part in helping Pakistan and the TTP reach a negotiated settlement.

Langau said there are different groups within the TTP and some of them do not want to hold talks with Pakistan. He said local TTP militants in Balochistan are also not ready to lay down arms. “Terrorists have not been completely wiped out from Afghanistan and some groups still operate from there,” he said. He agreed that the missing persons issue is one of the key issues of the province. “We are working to resolve it and have made some progress.”

The home minister claimed that some people are actually missing; some people have gone into hiding while some pretend to be missing in order to seek asylum abroad.

Balochistan Secretary Information Hamza Shafqaat also claimed that foreign agencies are involved in destabilizing the region to protect their own interests.

“There are several groups claiming responsibilities of attacks and all the attacks are different in nature. We are fighting with different groups and foreign elements. We have lost many soldiers and civilians and we have also learned a lot,” he said.

He said the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) is also engaged in fighting terrorism. “Nacta issues alerts to the provinces about possible terror attacks.  Counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence operations are underway at the border,” Shafqaat said. He said the government has a strategy in place with regard to Balochistan under which the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) and the army are doing their work while the police are working to establish law and order. Apart from this, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) is also working against terrorism.

“The Government of Balochistan is focusing on socio-economic development. Civil departments will soon start delivering. So that feeling of deprivation among the youth may end. It is important that people get their basic needs met like jobs and resources.”

In this regard, he said, a big step is the Reko Diq deal which will help in increasing the development budget from Rs50 billion to Rs300 billion. The government will have enough funds to improve the infrastructure which will improve the province overall. “The Reko Diq deal can play a huge role in ending terrorism as poverty and lack of basic infrastructure contribute to the lawlessness in the region. Besides the Reko Diq, the government is planning to launch multiple projects to improve the quality of the life of people in the region,” he added.

Analyzing the rise of terrorism in the province, Zia Rehman, a journalist, said militancy in Balochistan is a phenomenon far more complicated and dangerous than militancy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.

The TTP – a loose conglomerate of ultra-orthodox militant outfits – had claimed responsibility for the attacks. However, Rehman, who has extensively covered militants groups of all hues across the country believes that Baloch militant organizations are an even bigger threat than the TTP.

“Baloch armed groups have become very strong in the last two-three years after the formation of BRAS, an alliance of four militant groups that has claimed responsibility for some major attacks,” he said.  BRAS stands for the Baloch Raaji Ajoi Sangar, which can be translated as the Baloch National Freedom Front.

He said the strongest among these groups is the Baloch Liberation Army’s Bashir Zeb faction, which attacked security forces in Panjgur and Nushki districts this year. “The group also carried out a suicide attack on Chinese nationals in Karachi. This is an alarming development as earlier only terrorists belonging to religious outfits could carry out such attacks.” A female suicide bomber on April 26, 2022 killed three Chinese teachers who worked at the Confucius Centre at the Karachi University, drawing strong condemnation from Beijing.

Talking with reference to religious militant groups that he described as the second factor in the unrest in Balochistan, he said a new TTP faction called the “Zhob Division” has recently become active.

“Recently a suicide bomber had targeted a police vehicle in Quetta. This so-called Zhob Division had claimed responsibility.” He said the TTP now claims that a group from Makran has also joined it.

“It is a very significant development as Makran is already a hotbed of Baloch insurgency.  If their claims are true, then the situation in Makran is going to worsen.

“Makran borders the Iranian province of Sistan-o-Baluchestan where an organization called Jaish-ul-Adl is fighting against the Iranian government,” he added.

He said the third factor in the unrest in Balochistan is the Islamic State–Khorasan Province (ISKP)

The ISKP is an ultra-orthodox terrorist organization with roots in the Middle East. It has been carrying out terrorist attacks primarily against Shia Muslims in Afghanistan and Balochistan.

According to Rehman, various factions of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), a sectarian group from Pakistan, have joined the ISKP. “In January 2021, they killed 11 Shia Hazara miners near Quetta,” he said.

Terror attack on the rise

According to data received from Balochistan Home Department, the year 2022 has seen a spike in terror attacks across Balochistan, reaching a 5-year high.

Till December 20, 2022, 290 terror attacks were reported in the province, marking an increase of 11% from 2021. In these 290 incidents, 125 people were killed while 417 people got injured. The highest number of attacks (41) took place in May. In these incidents, 4 people were killed and 13 got injured. September remained the most peaceful month, in which 13 incidents took place.  Paramilitary FC was attacked the most (85 times). In these attacks, 46 personnel were martyred and 113 received injured.

During the last five years from 2018-2022, a total of 1,177 incidents were reported of which 534 attacks were carried out against the law enforcement agencies (LEAs).    A total of 822 people including 425 LEAs personnel lost their lives while 2,228 people including 930 LEAs personnel sustained wounds. In 2022, the LEAs were attacked 135 times, leaving 90 personnel dead and 226 injured.

Other crimes

There has been a significant increase in incidents of robbery and snatching across Balochistan. In 2022, 1,256 cases of armed robbery were registered.

Some 813 cases were registered in Quetta; 113 in Naseerabad; 104 in Jaffarabad; 43 in Sibi and 33 in Kacchi districts. In the outgoing year, police also registered 200 cases of kidnapping and abduction.

Interestingly, only 10% of the territory of the province falls under the jurisdiction of police. This area is also called the A-Area in official jargon. The remaining 90% of the province, called the B-Area, falls under the jurisdiction of the Balochistan Levies or tribal police.

“Fewer cases are registered in the B-Area; firstly because 90% of the provincial population is concentrated in the A-Area and secondly because fewer people go to Levies to get cases registered as they rely on the jirga system,” said a Levies official while requesting anonymity.

Talking to Bol News, an official of the Home and Tribal Affair Department said the rise in crimes in Balochistan is linked to political change in Afghanistan.  “The borders are being fenced in a bid to stop terrorists and other criminals from entering Pakistan,” he said.