ISLAMABAD/QUETTA: Pakistan’s interior minister said on Sunday that Islamabad will not close the doors to dialogue with militants, a day after troops concluded a four-day long operation against separatists in southwestern Balochistan province.
On Wednesday night, the separatist Baloch Liberation Army launched attacks on paramilitary camps in Balochistan’s Naushki and Panjgur districts near the border with Iran. On Saturday, the Pakistan army said 20 militants and nine soldiers had been killed in the operation to clear the bases, which lasted over 70 hours.
Amid an increase in attacks in recent weeks, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told reporters in Islamabad that the government remains open for dialogue with militant groups.
“Doors for dialogue can’t be closed,” he said, “but terrorists who took up arms against (the) army, Pakistan and attack our installations, they shouldn’t be forgiven.”
BACKGROUND
- On Saturday, the Pakistan army said 20 militants and nine soldiers had been killed in the operation to clear the bases, which lasted over 70 hours.
On Friday, six people, including two paramilitaries, were injured after a bomb attack targeted a Levies Forces checkpoint in Balochistan’s Chaman district, which borders Afghanistan.
Last week, 10 Pakistani soldiers were killed in an attack on a checkpoint in the province’s Kech district bordering Iran.
Balochistan has been marred by an insurgency for two decades, fueled by anger at crushing poverty despite its abundant reserves of natural resources.
Insurgents are also opposed to, and attack, projects linked to China’s Belt and Road Initiative in the province. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor infrastructure project has inflamed grievances, with claims the vast influx of investment does not benefit local people.
