As Pakistan gears up for polls, Balochistan prepares ‘comprehensive’ plan to counter militant threat 

QUETTA: Authorities in Pakistan’s Balochistan have prepared a “comprehensive” security plan to counter a threat of militant attacks in the southwestern province, officials said, as the South Asian country gears up for a national election on February 8. 

Balochistan, which shares a porous border with Afghanistan in the north and Iran to the west, has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by Baloch separatists and other armed groups, who have targeted election activities in the volatile southwestern region over the last two decades. 

In July 2018, at least 128 people were killed and dozens injured after a Daesh suicide bomber targeted an election rally in the Mastung district, some 50 kilometers away from the provincial capital of Quetta, during the last general election. Another 31 voters were killed in a separate attack near Quetta’s Eastern Bypass area on the day of polling. 

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has been finalizing a plan to protect its staff and voters on 5,067 polling stations in Mastung, Khuzdar, Turbat, Awaran, Gwadar, Kharan and Panjgur districts of Balochistan. Of these polling stations, 2,038 have been declared “highly sensitive.” 

“Balochistan has a sprawling landscape and distinct features as compared to the other provinces, holding the elections in a peaceful environment will be a challenge but we have a comprehensive security plan to maintain security on the polling day,” Balochistan Provincial Election Commissioner Ijaz Ali Chauhan told Arab News on Thursday. 

He said the ECP was focusing on each and every polling station across the province and aiming for considerable deployment of police, Balochistan Constabulary, Frontier Corps and Pakistan Army. 

The Balochistan caretaker government has vowed to help the election authorities hold a peaceful election in the province. 

“There are many terrorism threats ahead of general elections, but we will tackle them and we are ready to cope with any situation relating to law and order,” Interim Home Minister Zubair Jamali told Arab News. “We have accepted the challenge to hold the elections in a peaceful manner.” 

The elections are scheduled to be held at a time when Pakistan is witnessing a surge in militant attacks in its northwestern and southwestern provinces that border Afganistan. These attacks particularly increased after the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) called off its months-long truce with the government in Islamabad in November 2022. 

Pakistan has accused Kabul of allowing the TTP to operate and launch attacks from the Afghan soil against the Pakistani security forces and people. The Afghan Taliban administration denies its land is being used against any country. 

Pakistani political leaders, based in the troubled border regions, have already expressed concerns about the security situation ahead of the polls, but Jamali dismissed their concern and said more than 90 percent of Pakistan’s border with Iran and Afghanistan had been fenced. 

“Our forces are securing the border and they are devoted to eliminating all security threats,” the home minister said. 

Security analysts, however, remain concerned about a peaceful conduct of the 2024 election in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 

“In 2023, there were a series of attacks on political leaders in Balochistan which proves that a threat does exist during the electoral activities in the province,” Abdul Basit Khan, a research fellow at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told Arab News. 

“Security challenges are paramount given the fact that Balochistan is a sparsely populated region. If the elections provide opportunity to armed groups, particularly the Baloch separatists, to undermine the state, they will avail it.”