EDITORIAL: Wednesday’s terrorist attack on a school bus in Khuzdar comes as a huge shock since those targeted were innocent children. According to reports, the bus carrying students was on its way to the Army Public School when targeted by a suicide bomber vehicle, leaving six people dead, including three young girls; 40 others, majority of them students, sustained injuries. Two of the injured students succumbed to their injuries.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the atrocity. Soon afterwards, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, accompanied by Field Marshal Asim Munir rushed to Quetta, where they were given a security briefing. Later, the PM issued a statement saying the act was carried out by “state-sponsored proxies of India”, and that dastardly terrorist incidents were being orchestrated through proxies in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. As a matter of fact, just last week, 12 militants were eliminated in intelligence-based operations in KP and Baluchistan, the ISPR had said were “Indian-sponsored terrorists.”
There has been enough evidence of Indian involvement in fomenting terrorism inside Pakistan through its proxies. Actually, the Modi government’s declared national security policy has been ‘Offensive Defence Strategy,’ explained as destabilisation of Pakistan using militant groups in KP and Baluchistan, of which a living proof is the RAW operative Kulbhushan Jadhav caught red-handed a while ago in Baluchistan.
Having faced a humiliating defeat in the recent standoff with Pakistan, PM Modi now has an even stronger motive to inflict harm on this country. He has been saying his side had only ‘paused’ military action against Pakistan. The only way he could resume hostilities, therefore, is through proxies, like the self-styled Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which is likely to have orchestrated the attack on the school bus.
It is worth noting that in a May 11 press release the BLA had asked India to take action against Pakistan, with the assurance that it along with other Baloch militant groups would be its “military arm” on the western side. PM Sharif therefore had good reason to point the finger at India, saying the architects, abettors, and enablers of this crime will be held accountable and brought to justice, adding that “the truth about India’s cunning role, a real perpetrator of terrorism but feigns as a victim, stands exposed before the world.” Islamabad has to work hard to expose before the world India’s role in provoking and promoting terrorism in this country.
The tragic incident in Khuzdar raises questions about the complex and unstable security environment in that restive province. A string of terrorist strikes during the recent months has underscored inadequacies of the current approach. While kinetic operations are necessary to punish those killing innocent people, such as labourers and travelers from other provinces and now school children, they need to be complemented with initiatives aimed at addressing the longstanding politico-economic grievances of the Baloch people that play into the hands of inimical forces looking for opportunities to undermine the security and well-being of this state and society.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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