QUETTA: In response to escalating terrorist activity in Balochistan, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced an expansion of intelligence-based operations (IBOs) across the province on Sunday. The statement follows a deadly blast near Quetta Railway Station that claimed 27 lives and injured over 50 people on Saturday. Chairing a high-level meeting on Balochistan’s security situation, Naqvi pledged the federal government’s full …

QUETTA: At least 21 coal miners, including three Afghan nationals, were killed and six others injured in a deadly terrorist attack at a mines area of a private company, some 10km from Duki district headquarters, in the wee hours of Friday. Officials said that militants fired rockets, hurled hand grenades and opened indiscriminate fire, killing the labourers and destroying at …

QUETTA: Armed men attacked the camp of a private construction company in Musakhail district of Balo­chistan, setting the machinery and vehicles including seven bulldozers on fire after ransacking the camp, police said. Officials said terrorists carrying automatic weapons barged into the camp area of the construction company bet­w­een the night of Sept 28 and 29 in Sewa Ragh area of …

QUETTA: Terrorists armed with automatic weapons stormed an under-construction house in the Khuda-i-Abadan area of Panj­gur town late on Saturday night and killed seven labourers, all hailing from Multan, police said. The deadly attack drew immediate condemnation from President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The PM sought a report from Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti, reiterating the …

ISLAMABAD: As the security situation in Balochistan continues to deteriorate, experts gathered at a roundtable discussion on the province’s escalating crisis warned that the government’s failure to engage in meaningful dialogue with Baloch dissidents is exacerbating the conflict, with one analyst cautioning that the prolonged “deadlock” is driving insurgents towards increasingly extreme forms of violence, underscoring the urgent need for …

RAWALPINDI: The court-martial proceedings against former spymaster Lt Gen (Retd) Faiz Hameed were initiated based on “concrete evidence” following a detailed probe, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesperson said on Thursday. Addressing a press conference in Rawalpindi, ISPR Director General (DG) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said the Pakistan Army had no political agenda as it believed in self-accountability. In …

GAWADAR: The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) has decided to end its protest in Gwadar, Balochistan’s interior minister confirmed on Friday, after the two sides signed a seven-point agreement. The BYC has been holding protests for almost a week at the Marine Drive in Gwadar and other areas to decry the alleged human rights violations against the people of Balochistan, enforced disappearances, and …

ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday announced a Rs5 million “support package” per family of missing persons, which would provide them with legal and financial assistance, the law minister said. Balochistan has seen multiple protests and unrest in the past months over the issue of missing persons. Baloch demonstrators had marched to Islamabad in December but were met with force and arrests. They called off their …

QUETTA: Emphasising the need for reforms, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif decla­red on Mon­day that if Pakistan did not take “hard decisions”, the country would have to knock on the doors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) once again. “If we do not introduce reforms and take hard decisions, we will have to approach the IMF again after three years when the new …

QUETTA: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday announced that 28,000 tube wells in Balochistan will be solarised to provide farmers with cheap electricity, on behalf of the federal and provincial governments. The premier arrived at Quetta airport earlier today for a one-day visit, where he was received by Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti and Balochistan Governor Jaffar Khan Mandokhail. …