Pakistan: Baloch terrorists identify, kill 31 Punjabi passengers, torch their vehicles

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: Pakistan is now getting a taste of its own ‘medicines.’ It had trained terrorists to identify and selectively kill the people in Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir since the 1980s.

That’s what the Baloch terrorists are doing now.

Baloch terrorists identified and killed at least 31 Punjabi people in two separate attacks in Southwestern Pakistan, the media reported on Monday.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most active separatist group in the restive region, claimed responsibility for the shootings. After killing selected passengers from Punjab province, they also torched many of their vehicles on a highway in Musakhail, a district in Baluchistan Province.

There were also reports of other shootings and unrest across the same province, the media reported, quoting police and officials.

In the first major incident, 23 people were massacred after being identified and taken out from buses, vehicles, and trucks in Musakhail, senior police official Ayub Achakzai said, in an attack claimed by separatists.

The attackers burned at least 10 vehicles before fleeing.

The buses, vans, and trucks were stopped one after the other on a highway connecting Punjab with Balochistan, Najibullah Kakar, a senior official in Musakhail, said.

“The numbers of the militants were between 30 to 40. They stopped 22 vehicles,” he said.

“Vehicles traveling to and from Punjab were inspected, and individuals from Punjab were identified and shot,” he added.

The BLA claimed that those killed were military servicemen in civilian clothes who were “identified and killed by BLA fighters,” but did not provide any evidence.

In another attack, terrorists killed at least nine people, including four police officers and five passersby, in the Qalat district, also in Baluchistan, authorities said.

Insurgents also blew up a railway track in Bolan, attacked a police station in Mastung, and attacked and burned vehicles in Gwadar, all districts in Baluchistan. No casualties were, however, reported in these attacks.

Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest but poorest province, despite an abundance of untapped natural resources.

Baloch separatists have in recent years intensified attacks on Punjabis and Sindhis working in Baluchistan, as well as foreign energy firms they believe are exploiting the region without sharing its riches.

Punjabis are the largest of the six main ethnic groups in Pakistan and are perceived to dominate the ranks of the military, which is locked in a battle to quash Balochistan’s armed separatists.

In a similar attack in April, 11 Punjabi laborers were killed after terrorists abducted them from a bus in Naushki city of Balochistan.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed “deep grief and condemnation over the terrorist attack” in a statement issued Monday by his office.