By Staff Reporter
QUETTA: Pakistan’s top military commander pledged on Sunday to crush terrorists in Balochistan, accusing India of fueling militancy in the restive province critical to the nation’s stability, state-run Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday.
Field Marshal Asim Munir, the Chief of Army Staff, delivered the warning at a grand jirga in Quetta, a meeting convened to unite tribal leaders amid rising security threats.
Munir said India’s support for terrorism in Balochistan was evident and backed by concrete evidence.
“It is an open malicious act of terrorism waged on our people, our progress, and our peace,” he told the gathering.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, also present, supported the military’s stance, alleging that “Indian-sponsored proxies” were working to destabilize the province.
He called on tribal leaders to block local support for terrorist groups and stressed community action to counter their influence.
The statements follow a spate of deadly attacks in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest yet least developed province. In April, a bomb hit a school bus in Khuzdar, killing 10 people, including eight students, and injuring more than 40, mostly children.
The military blamed India, citing “irrefutable evidence” of Indian personnel directing terrorist operatives.
In March, militants hijacked the Jaffar Express train near Sibi, killing 26 hostages, including 18 security personnel, with five more soldiers dying in a rescue attempt. The Balochistan Liberation Army, a banned separatist group, has been tied to such attacks, intensifying its campaign against security forces and civilians.
Munir struck a defiant tone at the jirga, promising that the Pakistan Army, with national and local backing, would prevail. “The enemy’s nefarious designs will fail,” he said, calling peace in Balochistan “non-negotiable” and tying it to Pakistan’s future prosperity.
Tribal elders voiced support, pledging to stand with the military and civilian leadership to secure the province.
The charges against India threaten to deepen tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors, long at odds over cross-border meddling. Balochistan’s vast resources and its role in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor make it a strategic prize, despite a persistent insurgency driven by grievances over development and resource control. Recent attacks have grown bolder and more frequent.
Sharif warned that terrorist groups, operating under what he called “Fitna Al Hindustan”, a term suggesting Indian-backed discord, were seeking local footholds. “This must be denied to them,” he urged.
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