Media chat: Top FC official says RAW will fail in Balochistan

Accuses two neighbours of Pakistan of promoting terrorism

QUETTA: Inspector General of the Frontier Corps Maj Gen Sher Afgan on Saturday said that India’s spy agency RAW would not be able to derail Pakistan’s plan to complete the port of Gwadar or block its development.

Speaking to the media at the FC headquarters, he said that New Delhi wanted to disrupt peace and order in Balochistan through its agents. But he pledged that the security forces, as well as the people and the government of Balochistan would never allow the nefarious designs of the enemy to succeed.

“India is involved in state-sponsored terrorism,” said the head of the paramilitary force that wields policing powers in the province.

Two neighbours of Pakistan are promoting terrorism in the country, he said without naming them. Both these hostile states are harbouring nurseries of terrorism.

The nine-year long war against insurgents has yielded results, Maj Gen Sher Afgan said elaborating that all ‘no-go- areas’ have been eliminated. Panjgur and Awaran were the worst affected by the anti-state insurgency, but today no one is willing to help such elements.

He pointed out that in one particular locality, the Balicha town of Kech district, women of the community have stood up against terrorists. They counter the propaganda of the insurgents and don’t let their children become terrorists.

Operation against TTP

FC soldiers have not allowed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants to gain even a toe-hold in the province, Afgan said. TTP fighters have been on the run in the wake of the Operation Zarb-e-Azb in Fata and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the militants have been seeking sanctuaries along the Afghan border, the IGFC said. Nevertheless, the unabated operation against the militants has thwarted designs to set up a network in Balochistan, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3^rd, 2016.