Pakistani Leadership Convenes in Balochistan as Separatist Attacks Leave 50 Dead
Pakistani Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif traveled to Balochistan on Thursday to chair a high-level national security meeting of provincial and federal ministers after a wave of terrorist attacks plunged the region into chaos earlier this week.
On Sunday, fighters affiliated with the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a banned Baloch separatist group operating out of Afghanistan, launched a series of terror attacks across the province that left 50 dead, including 14 security personnel.
The attackers also destroyed railway tracks, police stations, and over three dozen vehicles, according to government officials, who say that the responding Pakistani security forces eliminated 21 BLA fighters and have since regained control of the area.
State media reported that Sharif was accompanied by several other top officials from Islamabad, including the ministers of interior, information, and commerce and the army chief of staff.
During the committee meeting, Sharif pledged to “fully eradicate terrorism from Balochistan through our collective vision, power, and unwavering determination” and further vowed to root out “terrorism that has surged again since 2018,” not just in Balochistan but across the country.
The announcement also stated that Islamabad would deploy all “the police and civil officers of the 48th Common Group [to Balochistan] without discrimination to ensure peace, stability, and development of the province.”
Sharif, who leads the center-right Pakistan Muslim League party, became premier in March of this year following a widely criticized election.
