The UN Security Council has strongly condemned a recent surge in militant attacks in southwestern Pakistan that has claimed dozens of lives, mostly civilians.
Pakistani forces are currently cracking down on insurgents in the volatile Balochistan province, where about a dozen coordinated attacks began on Saturday, targeting civilians and buildings housing police and security personnel. Scores of militants have reportedly been killed in recent days.
Federal and provincial officials confirmed at least 36 civilians and 17 members of the security forces have died. Security forces have since killed 197 militants from the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, which claimed responsibility for the recent suicide bombings and gun attacks.
In an overnight statement, UN Security Council President James Kariuki said the council members condemned in the "strongest terms the heinous and cowardly terrorist attacks across multiple locations" in Balochistan, extending condolences to victims’ families and the government and people of Pakistan.
Balochistan has a long history of separatist insurgency by ethnic Baloch groups seeking greater autonomy or independence from Islamabad. Despite government claims of quelling the unrest, violence persists.
Balochistan, which is Pakistan’s poorest province, has been embroiled in a decades-long insurgency led by separatists seeking greater autonomy.
Pakistan’s military on Saturday claimed the BLA attacks were "Indian-sponsored", which is now a routine allegation in the country’s national security narrative.
India denied the accusation, stating that Islamabad was deflecting attention from its own internal problems.
"We categorically reject the baseless allegations made by Pakistan," India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
He added that Islamabad should instead address "long-standing demands” of the region’s people.
People in Balochistan speak of rampant corruption plaguing the resource-rich but impoverished province.
“Everyone here is corrupt,” one former chief minister of the province told Al Jazeera.
There are also nationalistic sentiments among ethnic Baloch separatists seeking greater autonomy and a larger share of their natural resources.
“Those who have joined the ranks of terrorists are the responsibility of their families to inform the government,” the province’s chief minister said in a post on X.
“The law will be set in motion against all those whose families did not inform the government about the terrorists who were killed,” Mr Bugti said.
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