It is now time to end terrorism: PM Shehbaz says after Balochistan attacks

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that it was now “time to end terrorism” after terrorists launched numerous attacks on Sunday midnight in Balochistan.

Addressing the federal cabinet today, the premier said that as per reports, more than 50 Pakistanis have been martyred including soldiers and law enforcement agencies’ personnel.

He further said terrorists were mistaken if they believed they could establish their hold by martyring innocent Pakistanis.

“The sole aim of their nefarious and impure goals is to stop the journey of progress in Pakistan,” he added.

“Doors of dialogue are open for those who believe in Pakistan and its constitution.”

However, no talks will be held with the enemies and terrorists, PM Shehbaz said.

The PM further said that the government has assured the security forces of providing them with “whatever financial resources they needed by reducing our other expenditures”.

His statement comes after at least 73 people were killed in Balochistan when terrorists attacked police stations, railway lines and highways and security forces launched retaliatory operations on Monday.

Rail traffic with Quetta was suspended following blasts on a rail bridge linking the provincial capital to the rest of country. Militants also struck a rail link to neighbouring Iran, railways official Muhammad Kashif said.

Police said they had found six as yet unidentified bodies near the site of the attack on the railway bridge.

On Sunday night, armed men blocked a highway, marched 23 passengers off vehicles, and shot them after checking their identity cards, a senior superintendent of police, Ayub Achakzai said.

As many as 35 vehicles were set on fire on the highway in the area of Musakhel.

“The armed men also not only killed passengers but also killed the drivers of trucks carrying coal,” said Hameed Zahir, deputy commissioner of the area.

Moreover, on Sunday, six security personnel and four civilians were killed in clashes with terrorists who stormed a station of the Balochistan Levies in the central district of Kalat, police official Dostain Khan Dashti told Reuters.

Balochistan, which borders both Iran and Afghanistan, is Pakistan’s largest province by size, but the least populated and it remains largely underdeveloped, with high levels of poverty.