On September 15, five Pakistani security officials were killed in Balochistan as an impact of the targeted Improvised Explosive Device(IED) attack. The IED blast was targeted towards the vehicle of the Pakistani security forces that was in the region as a part of the routine patrolling. The incident took place in the Shand area of Mand region in Balochistan and all the five military personnel in the vehicle succumbed to death. Police officials have decoded the IED blast as deliberate and precisely targeted. Injured Pakistani security officials were immediately taken to the nearby district headquarters hospital, however they couldn’t survive.
This latest attack reflects the growing rift between Pakistan and Balochistan and also the uncompromising assertion of the Balochs towards their separation and autonomy from Pakistan as an impact of the decades of political, economic and cultural neglect and suppression of the Balochistan by Islamabad.
Even on September 6, during a cricket match in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, atleast one person was killed and several others were injured. Just a week ago, a police station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was attacked with a quadcopter, leading to injuries in a police constable and a public. However, as of now, no groups in Balochistan have claimed responsibility for the recent attacks.
In the month of July as well, Balochistan insurgent groups targeted a bus with Pakistani military forces travelling from Karachi to Quetta. In a deadly attack, the 27 Pakistani military personnel were killed and several others were injured. The Baloch Liberation Army(BLA) had then claimed responsibility for the attack. Similarly, in a remote-controlled IED blast in Quetta Balochistan Liberation Army had killed two Pakistani soldiers and four other soldiers were killed in a similar targeted blast in Kalat’s Khazina region.
These recurring and day-by-day intensifying conflicts testify the steep domestic political instability prevailing in Pakistan. Especially, Balochistan is growing as a major security and political challenge to Islamabad even as they try to suppress the Baloch aspirations and demands. Instead of heeding to the political, economic and developmental ambitions of the Baloch people and rather than ensuring the security of the Balochistan and its people, Islamabad seeks to suppress them. As an impact, the separatist ambitions are further mounting with aggressive and deadly attacks as a symbol of the decades of frustration of the Balochs.
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