Addressing the Pakistani senate on Friday, the interior minister claimed that the recent attacks have clear links to a ‘plot to subvert’ the upcoming SCO summit
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As Pakistan struggles to deal with the ongoing crisis in Balochistan, the country’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi alleged that the recent spate of terror attacks in the region was “planned to ruin” the upcoming summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The International event will be hosted by Pakistan from October 15-16 under its rotating chairmanship.
Addressing the Pakistani senate on Friday, the interior minister claimed that the recent attacks have clear links to a “plot to subvert” the upcoming SCO summit. “We have identified clear links showing that they [terrorists] planned to ruin the SCO conference,” Naqvi said during his address at the senate, Dawn reported
“A lot of people are in anguish [about SCO meeting] so that it should not be organised,” he furthered, describing the attacks as a “conspiracy against the summit”.
Naqvi called it a plot to ‘ruin’ SCO
Naqvi emphasised that the attacks in Balochistan were devised by not just one body but “terrorist organisations had carried them out together”.
“The incident on the night of August 26 was not a normal one. There was complete planning behind it,” the independent senator explained. “There is no [military] operation being carried out,” the interior minister clarified, responding to another senator’s remarks over the matter.
“Those who acknowledge Pakistan, we will highly welcome them. They are very respectable for us, though there can be differences [with us], which we are trying our best to address and will do so.
“Those who do not accept the state and take up arms are terrorists and we will deal with them,” Naqvi vowed.
The attacks in Balochistan
The Pakistani-administered region faced a series of horrific attacks that resulted in the death of over 50 civilians and 14 security personnel. The militants affiliated with the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack. In another incident, at least 23 passengers were killed after being offloaded from passenger buses and trucks in the Rarasham area of Balochistan’s Musakhel.
Not only this, at least 10 people, including police and Levies personnel, were martyred in a gun attack in Kalat. Furthermore, at least 14 people, 10 security forces soldiers and four personnel of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) were killed during a clearance operation wherein at least 21 militants were neutralised.
During the Friday parliamentary session, Naqvi told the senate that PKR 8 billion had been allocated for Balochistan while another PKR 5 billion had been provided to the province’s Counterterrorism Department (CTD). The money will “solve minor issues with the support of the local MNAs and MPAs”, the senator explained.
With inputs from agencies.