����ֱ��

ISLAMABAD: Sarfraz Bugti, the Chief Minister of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, on Thursday accused India’s top intelligence agency of trying to unite different militant groups to launch attacks in Pakistan. 

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but poorest province, has long faced an insurgency that has intensified in recent months, with Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) militants frequently targeting security forces, officials, infrastructure and non-local residents. Other groups including the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) and Daesh also maintain a presence in the province.

Bugti told a press conference in Islamabad that India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was seeking to unite militant groups on a single platform in Balochistan to attack security forces.

“They [RAW] have launched an intelligence-based war against us and are trying to unite all those who seek to destabilize Pakistan,” he said in response to a question.

India has always rejected Pakistan’s allegations of sponsoring terrorism, labelling them “baseless” and calls on Islamabad to focus on its internal security challenges instead of shifting blame.

During the briefing, he also shared details of an intelligence-based operation conducted in Balochistan’s Chaghi district yesterday in which two suspects were killed while another surrendered.

“One of the slain terrorists was a lawyer by profession,” he said, adding that the advocate was actively recruiting for the BLA in the Dalbandin area while also facilitating other militants.

Bugti said Pakistan’s intelligence agencies had been tracking the lawyer for more than three months after his name surfaced in the probe into the May 8 killing of two Pakistan Air Force personnel in Dalbandin.

He also accused Afghanistan of training and sheltering militants behind attacks in the largest province amid a surge in separatist violence.

“They [terrorists] have safe havens in Afghanistan and have been provided places for the training camps, and they attack us from there,” Bugti said.

“You [Afghan Taliban government] committed not to let your soil be used against any country.” 

Bugti added that many of the militants recently killed were Afghan nationals and urged Afghanistan’s rulers to honor their pledge not to allow their soil to be used for “terrorism.”

Rising militancy in mineral-rich Balochistan, which sits on the border with Afghanistan and Iran, has been met with a sweeping counter-terrorism crackdown.

Four civilians and a policeman were killed in Balochistan last week, while security forces shot dead five militants in separate operations.

In early September, around 15 people were killed in a suicide bombing claimed by Daesh at a political rally in the provincial capital Quetta.

Last month, nine Pakistani soldiers and 50 Pakistani Taliban militants were killed in separate incidents.

Separatists have been fighting a decade-long insurgency against the Pakistan military with the aim of what they say ending discrimination against the Baloch people.

Human rights groups say the crackdown has included rights abuses such as arbitrary detentions and arrests of local people.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik on Thursday discussed the need for a National Resilience Plan 2025-26, aimed at enhancing preparations and mitigating climate-related disasters, ahead of next year’s monsoon season. 

Heavy monsoon rains and floods in Pakistan have killed around 1,006 people and injured 1,063 nationwide since Jun. 26. The country’s most populous Punjab province reported massive devastation in late August after heavy rains coupled with water released by dams in India, triggered floods. At least 134 people were killed while over 4.5 million were affected by the deluges, as the provincial Punjab government launched the largest rescue and relief operation in its history to evacuate over 2.6 million people to safer locations. 

Malik called on NDMA Chairman Lt. Gen Inam Haider Malik in Islamabad to discuss strategies to reduce losses inflicted by climate-related disasters on humans, infrastructure, crops and livestock via a National Resilience Plan 2025-26, the climate change ministry said. 

“The plan aims to enhance preparedness for the upcoming 2026 monsoon season and to mitigate the devastation caused by natural disasters,” the ministry said in a statement.

Malik stressed the importance of creating a “robust mechanism” that delivers tangible results for the most vulnerable communities. 

“The Federal Minister further observed that the current disaster response system is fragmented and requires integration into a single, streamlined framework that is quick, coordinated, and effective,” the climate change ministry said. 

Malik reaffirmed the government’s commitment to work closely with the NDMA and all stakeholders to ensure a “comprehensive and unified disaster management strategy.”

The NDMA chairman laid emphasis on the need to identify vulnerable regions across Pakistan and assess their exposure to specific risks including floods, cloudbursts, glacial melt, glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) and landslides. 

Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change despite contributing less than one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. 

Catastrophic floods in 2022 killed nearly 1,700 people, submerged a third of the country at one point, and inflicted over $30 billion in damages, according to government estimates.

The government has stressed the importance of early warning systems and disaster mitigation efforts, as experts warn future monsoon seasons could cause even more destruction across Pakistan.