Terrorism strikes in Balochistan once again—at least 11 coal miners were killed in the Mach area of the province on Sunday after armed militants kidnapped them and took them to a nearby area before opening fire at close range. Initial investigation has revealed the attackers identified the miners as being from the Shia Hazara community and the gunmen took them away for execution, leaving others unharmed.
Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, terrorism in Balochistan has followed certain trends for a while right now, which indicate clearly who is funding and encouraging this militancy. Militant activity in Balochistan has seen a worrying rise this month. Just last week, seven Frontier Corps soldiers were martyred after terrorists attacked a check post in Harnai, Balochistan. These attacks appear to be a response to an intelligence-based operation in the Awaran area of Balochistan, a military operation designed to investigate and track down Indian-funded terrorists. The Indian funding and facilitation of such non-state actors is clear—Prime Minister Imran Khan has explicitly named India and the government has said it would present evidence to world powers to prove India’s support of terrorism in Pakistan.
Yet we have seen that despite mountains of proof, from a captured Indian spy propagating terrorism, to international investigative reports showing India’s manipulation of UN bodies and fake NGOs to further propaganda, the international response has been to turn a blind eye. Thus the government needs to initiate action on its own to clamp down on funding channels. Better intelligence and laws are needed then to weed out the loopholes in the tax and funding channels which let funding for terrorism slip by. Our security forces are doing a good job protecting the province from terrorist attacks, but more needs to be done to prevent the initiation and facilitation of the terrorism.
https://nation.com.pk/04-Jan-2021/another-terrorist-attack
Another Terrorist Attack: edit in The Nation, January 04, 2021
Terrorism strikes in Balochistan once again—at least 11 coal miners were killed in the Mach area of the province on Sunday after armed militants kidnapped them and took them to a nearby area before opening fire at close range. Initial investigation has revealed the attackers identified the miners as being from the Shia Hazara community and the gunmen took them away for execution, leaving others unharmed.
Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, terrorism in Balochistan has followed certain trends for a while right now, which indicate clearly who is funding and encouraging this militancy. Militant activity in Balochistan has seen a worrying rise this month. Just last week, seven Frontier Corps soldiers were martyred after terrorists attacked a check post in Harnai, Balochistan. These attacks appear to be a response to an intelligence-based operation in the Awaran area of Balochistan, a military operation designed to investigate and track down Indian-funded terrorists. The Indian funding and facilitation of such non-state actors is clear—Prime Minister Imran Khan has explicitly named India and the government has said it would present evidence to world powers to prove India’s support of terrorism in Pakistan.
Yet we have seen that despite mountains of proof, from a captured Indian spy propagating terrorism, to international investigative reports showing India’s manipulation of UN bodies and fake NGOs to further propaganda, the international response has been to turn a blind eye. Thus the government needs to initiate action on its own to clamp down on funding channels. Better intelligence and laws are needed then to weed out the loopholes in the tax and funding channels which let funding for terrorism slip by. Our security forces are doing a good job protecting the province from terrorist attacks, but more needs to be done to prevent the initiation and facilitation of the terrorism.
https://nation.com.pk/04-Jan-2021/another-terrorist-attack
Published in Pak Media comment and Pakistan