Islamabad, July 21 (IANS) Under Army Chief Asim Munir, Pakistan has heavily relied on narrative management, with every major failure portrayed as a foreign conspiracy, every protest considered security threat and every military escalation presented as national resolve. Munir, who is portrayed as a “global stabiliser”, has presided over one of Pakistan’s worst internal security slides in more than a decade, a report has detailed. In 2022, Asim Munir took over as Pakistan’s Army Chief, when the co…
Latest Balochistan News & Updates
Quetta, July 21 (IANS) As violence against civilians continues unabated across Balochistan, leading human rights organisations on Tuesday brought to light the extrajudicial killing of one more civilian and the enforced disappearance of two others at the hands of Pakistani forces. Human rights body Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) said that 18-year-old Ahmed Ali Baloch was killed in a landmine explosion in Dera Bugti district on July 19, allegedly planted by Pakistan-backed death squads.The rights…
Quetta, July 20 (IANS) Another four civilians, including a minor girl, were forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces in Balochistan, leading human rights organisations alleged on Monday.Paank, the Baloch National Movement’s Human Rights Department, strongly condemned the enforced disappearances of three Baloch civilians across the province, stating that these incidents reflect an ongoing human rights crisis that requires immediate attention from the international community.The victims were ident…
Quetta, July 20 (IANS) The recent attack by Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) on the heavily-fortified compound of Shafiqur Rehman Mengal, a local leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Balochistan’s Khuzdar district, was more than an insurgent strike targeting the very machinery underpinning Pakistan’s official counterterrorism narrative, a report has stated. It argued that while Pakistani authorities claim to be fighting militancy in Balochistan for years, the state has governed through mi…
Islamabad, July 19 (IANS) Pakistan seems to extend patronage to Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP), also known as ISIS-K or Daesh Khorasan, not due to ideological sympathy, but as an instrument to put pressure on the Taliban and Baloch rebels, a report has detailed. On June 30, reports claimed about cross-border activity between Afghanistan and Pakistan, centred on the alleged hideouts of the ISKP. Such incidents have occurred repeatedly in recent years as Pakistan has created a plan to coun…
Islamabad, July 19 (IANS) The Islamic State–Khorasan Province’s (ISKP) greatest strength is connectivity, and Pakistan remains central to that connectivity because of history and geography, a report stated.”Pakistan has always attempted to present ISKP as a foreign infection entering from Afghanistan. This is convenient, but historically false. The organisation did not arrive in Pakistan from another planet. It emerged in part from the same jihadist ecosystem that the Pakistani state had cul…
Islamabad, July 19 (IANS) Pakistan is facing a crisis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan and is in a state of war with Afghanistan under Pakistan’s Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, said a report.”More than a year ago, Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Asim Munir told a cheering group of Pakistanis how he would beat the hell out of Baloch fighters “very soon”. More than a year has since elapsed, but rather than improving, things have taken a turn for the worse. A…
Islamabad, July 19 (IANS) The water dispute between Pakistan’s provinces of Sindh and Balochistan escalated as three Balochistan ministers participated in a farmers’ protest at Sukkur Barrage, accusing Sindh of diverting their allocated share of water and stressed that farmers are facing financial stress due to prolonged shortages, local media reported on Sunday. The ministers called on the Sindh government to act against what they termed the theft of Balochistan’s water share through unauthoris…
Kabul, July 18 (IANS) The wave of attacks on Pakistani security forces, coupled with the armed groups’ ability to leave the area with a large number of captives, has raised concerns over Pakistan’s preparedness, intelligence, communications and the availability of reinforcements to deal with the threats, a report has stated.The latest attack near Mangi Dam in Ziarat district of Pakistan’s Balochistan province, which left 27 police officers dead, has once again exposed the vulnerabilities i…
Islamabad, July 18 (IANS) Pakistan’s political landscape has long been shaped by one enduring reality: “governments may change, but the military remains the country’s most powerful institution”. Against that backdrop, Pakistani Islamist leader and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s open challenge to Army chief Asim Munir represents a striking break from convention, a report has detailed. When a veteran insider questions the military’s political authority, the establi…