Armed terrorists on Sunday gunned down five workers originally from Punjab in the Mashkel town of Balochistan’s Washuk district, even as the state continues Operation Shaban amidst a surge of terrorism across the province.
According to senior government officials, the armed terrorists opened fire on laborers from Punjab before fleeing the scene on motorcycles. Five men suffered multiple bullet injuries during the assault and died on the spot. The bodies have been shifted to a government health facility in Mashkel. Security forces and law enforcers have launched a search operation to trace the culprits, per officials.
The victims have been identified as Mohammad Bilal, Mohammad Hussain, Mohammad Qadeer, Mohsin and Bilal.
In a statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack, accusing “Fitna al-Hindustan” of perpetrating it. The state uses “Fitna al-Hindustan” to describe members of banned Baloch terror groups it alleges are funded by neighboring India.
Sharif described the targeting of innocent and unarmed laborers are “extremely barbaric and cowardly,” adding it deserved the strongest possible condemnation. “The elements involved in such heinous crimes against humanity deserve no leniency,” he said, reiterating that such cowardly attacks could not shake the nation’s resolve to eliminate terrorism. “The government and the security forces remain fully committed to eradicating terrorism from the country and ensuring the protection of every citizen’s life and property,” he added.
Separately, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti also strongly condemned the killings, describing the victims as “not merely Punjabi laborers, but Pakistani citizens, hardworking people and our own brothers.” He claimed the attack was not merely targeting a specific province or ethnicity, but rather Pakistan’s unity, Constitution and the authority of the state. He said the terrorists claiming to be fighting a so-called freedom movement had exposed their true agenda by targeting unarmed citizens.
“The objective of these terrorists is not any legitimate struggle but to spread fear, hatred and bloodshed, and destabilize Pakistan,” said the chief minister. He warned that anti-state elements and their facilitators would not be spared.
Operation Shaban
Last week, the state launched Operation Shaban in a bid to curtail rising terrorism across Balochistan after terrorists attacked the Mangi Dam police station in Ziarat, martyring 27 police personnel. Jointly conducted by the Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps, and Balochistan Police, the operation has claimed the elimination of 109 terrorists since July 5, per security officials.
They said security officials had recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition from the possession of the slain terrorists, adding these included M4 rifles, submachine guns, rocket launchers, mobile phones and other equipment.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, in a statement issued by his ministry, lauded the actions of security forces. “The action by the Pakistan Army, FC and police is reflective of the protection of national security. There is no place for terrorist elements in Pakistan,” he said, adding the nation stood with security forces and action against terrorists would continue.
Pakistan has been in the midst of a terror resurgence, primarily in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, since the Afghan Taliban’s return to power in Kabul in 2021. After several rounds of diplomatic engagement and clashes along the Pak-Afghan border, Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, targeting terrorist hideouts across the shared border. Despite the ongoing tensions, the interim Afghan Taliban government continues to express an unwillingness to take action against terrorist outfits based on its soil.