Lahore: More than 100 people were killed in Pakistan's province of Balochistan when separatist militants attacked police stations, railway lines and highways and security forces launched retaliatory operations on Monday (August 26). Chaos erupted on a highway in the Musakhail district in Balochistan, as people were seen running amid gunfire. As many as 35 vehicles were also set on fire on the highway.
The assaults that began on Sunday (August 25), were the most widespread in years by ethnic militants seeking to win secession of the resource-rich province, home to major China-led projects such as a port and a gold and copper mine. Besides, the Kalat attack came shortly after militants on Monday stopped passenger buses and trucks in the Rarashim area of the Musakhel district offloaded 23 passengers and shot them dead after identifying them as mostly passengers from Punjab. “They carried out the attack early in the morning and then escaped into the nearby mountains,” SSP Kalat, Dostain Dashti said on telephone.
"They go there alive but their bodies return"
Villagers were seen the following day, gathering to pray in front of dozens of bodies shrouded in white sheets during a mass funeral.
Amid the chaotic situation, the family of 31-year-old gardener Asif Iqbal mourned the loss of their relative, who was killed in Balochistan along with his friend on Sunday. Sat in their family residence in Lahore, grieving relations clutch to a photo of Asif and question why he was killed.
"What is the problem with Quetta (Balochistan)? Why a Punjabi? They go there alive but their bodies return. This is like hell descended upon my family, my father, my mother, my brothers and my sisters. I can’t tell you. I have no words," Atif Iqbal, younger brother of Asif who lost his life in the attack.
"His eyeball had come out, his mouth was wide open..."
One of the groups, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), took responsibility for this week's simultaneous attacks on police stations, railway lines and highways in the province, the largest but least developed of Pakistan's four. Hundreds of its fighters, including seven suicide bombers, participated in the attacks, it said in a statement.
Although the BLA easily claimed responsibility for the attack, it was not easy for the family to imagine the rest of their life without the man whom they claimed to be the sole breadwinner. "You cannot imagine what it was like to look at my brother’s body. It was a horror. His eyeball had come out, his mouth was wide open and wounded, and the teeth were broken. What was his fault?" Kajul, sister of the deceased man recalled the horrific condition of her brother's dead body.
"My father was a great support to our family. He was the lone breadwinner of our family. We came to know about it through a driver from this area who identified him,"
said the deceased son. Elsewhere in Shujaabad the body of a truck driver, who was also killed, received funeral rituals.
Massive hunt operation in Pakistan
The banned militant organisation claimed responsibility for these attacks, which coincided with the 18th death anniversary of ethnic Baloch tribal leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti who was killed in a military operation. The militant groups co-named its violence 'Operation Heroof' and simultaneously launched a slew of attacks in various districts of the province.
The SSP Kalat said security forces had launched a massive search operation in the area and were hunting for those who carried out the attack.
Security sources also confirmed that militants of separatist groups had also made attacks in some other parts of the province apart from Musakhel and Kalat on the night between Sunday and Monday but security forces had responded quickly and thwarted their attacks.
(With inputs from agencies)
