Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif recently told the National Assembly that security forces in Balochistan are struggling because of the province’s sheer size.
Even though the government has ramped up counter-terror operations after a sudden surge in attacks, covering so much ground isn’t easy.
Balochistan makes up more than 40% of Pakistan’s territory. Asif pointed out that patrolling such a massive area is a much bigger challenge than keeping order in a crowded city.
Balochistan Too Vast to Secure Easily, Admits Pakistan Defence Minister
“We’ve got a lot of troops out there, and they’re actively fighting militants,” he said. “But honestly, there’s only so much they can do when they have to guard and patrol such a vast region.”
He added, “But they are physically handicapped by guarding and patrolling such a big area,” as quoted by PTI.
His comments came after security forces killed 177 militants in response to coordinated attacks at a dozen different spots across the province. Asif also accused criminal gangs of teaming up with militants. He claimed these groups were operating under the name of the banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) to shield smugglers.
Pakistan Defence Minister Links Smugglers, Militants in Balochistan Crackdown
The nexus in Baluchistan was comprised of tribal elders, the bureaucracy and separatist movements, and he says that the smugglers had previously made up to PKRs 4 billion a day in oil smuggling.
Restating the government position, Asif said that Pakistan would not permit any endeavour to rationalise violence. It is not acceptable when you attempt to rationalise violence or even describe it as a movement of freedom because it is not so. This is one of the covers to legitimise the criminal acts, he said.
He further claimed that those factors supported by India were acting as proxies in Balochistan and that the Afghan land was being utilized in aid of terrorism.
Pak Defence Minister: Leadership of terrorists located in Afghanistan
He said that the leadership of the terrorists is located in Afghanistan, and it has assistance there.
Denying the allegations of being deprived, Asif added that there had been growth over the years in Balochistan, it had more airports as compared to any other province, and there had been work in progress to have non-functional ones operational.
He also quashed claims of missing persons saying that names of terrorists who were killed in the operations would be featured in such lists.
