FOURTEEN soldiers were martyred in a dastardly terrorist attack in Balochistan on Friday. Two vehicles of security forces moving from Pasni to Ormara in Gwadar district were ambushed by terrorists, resulting in martyrdom of 14 soldiers. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said, in a statement, that a sanitization operation was being carried out in the area and perpetrators of the heinous act would be hunted down and brought to justice.
It is, indeed, a day of national mourning that fourteen brave soldiers were targeted by terrorists besides two other incidents in Dera Ismail Khan and Lakki Marwat district of the KP, indicating a surge in terrorism in the two provinces. It is also intriguing that the troops were targeted in all the incidents which makes it clear once again that the terrorists and their handlers want to destabilize Pakistan at a time when attempts are being made to put the country back on the road to progress and prosperity. The martyrdom of fourteen soldiers in a single incident is also reflective of the serious dimensions of the challenge of terrorism in Balochistan, where some local and foreign forces were at work to stir trouble and deny people fruits of developmental initiatives being undertaken in different spheres of life to improve the lot of the people and bring backward regions of the province at par with other areas of the country. There is an intensive and venomous propaganda campaign against the presence of troops in Balochistan which is nothing extraordinary as troops are also there in other parts of the country. They have nothing to do with ordinary people and concentrate on their duties relating to security and defence of the motherland. The latest incident highlights the enormity of the challenge being thrown by anti-Pakistan elements and the need to foil their designs. Incidentally, the Gwadar tragedy has come immediately after a threat hurled by Acting Defence Minister of the Taliban Government Mullah Muhammad Yaqub Mujahid, who, in a video clip on the issue of repatriation of Afghan nationals illegally stay in Pakistan, warned Pakistan Government to “think of the consequences of whatever it is doing. It should plant as much as it will be able to reap”. A sudden surge in terrorist incidents is not without a reason and this aspect should also be explored. People of Pakistan stand steadfastly behind their defence forces who were determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism from the country.
