Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Monday attributed a series of militant attacks and violent incidents in southwestern Balochistan over the past 24 hours to Baloch separatists and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). These attacks resulted in the deaths of over 53 people, excluding the insurgents.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province, is strategically significant due to major China-led projects, including a port and a gold and copper mine. The region has long struggled with a separatist insurgency by ethnic Baloch militants, who claim they are fighting against the exploitation of the province’s resources by the central government. The government, however, denies these claims and asserts that it is committed to the province’s development.
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The recent surge in violence poses a serious challenge for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s already fragile coalition government, which is contending with economic woes, political instability, and increased militant violence across the country. Balochistan is also seeing civil rights protests by young ethnic Baloch demanding an end to alleged enforced disappearances and human rights abuses by security forces, allegations that the forces deny.
The violence on Sunday included several brutal incidents, such as the killing of 23 passengers in Musakhel and the deaths of 14 soldiers and police officers in a clearance operation. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for some of these attacks. Naqvi stated that the TTP and foreign elements were involved, and vowed to respond with full force, accusing militants of launching attacks from safe havens in Afghanistan—a charge denied by Kabul.
