Army denies operation in quake-hit Awaran

Security forces are in Awaran and Mashkey only for the relief operation DG, says ISPR Maj Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa.

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army denied on Sunday that it was involved in any military operation against Baloch insurgents in the areas devastated by a 7.7-magnitude earthquake last month.

Awaran, a dirt-poor district of Balochistan which was ravaged by the Sept 24 temblor, is believed to be a stronghold of Baloch militants who have been fighting a deadly insurgency since 2004.

The insurgent groups allege that army troops have been carrying out security operations in the garb of relief efforts. They have repeatedly attacked security forces engaged in relief activities.

“Security forces are in Awaran and Mashkey only for relief operations,” said Maj Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa, the director general of the Inter-Services Public Relation (ISPR), in a statement.

He added that despite repeated attacks on army troops, the security forces were exercising restraint and were concentrating on providing relief to earthquake survivors.



Dismissing certain media reports, Maj Gen Bajwa said that army troops were not carrying out any operation in the region.

“There is no military operation in Awaran and Mashkey as is being propagated by miscreants,” he added, inviting mediapersons to visit Awaran and Mashkey to witness the situation on ground.

Earlier this month, a bomb attack on a relief convoy killed six soldiers and injured another 12.

Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik had acknowledged that insurgents had established strongholds in Awaran due to the absence of government’s writ over the past few years.

On Sept 30, the chief minister’s convoy also came under attack in Awaran when he was on his way to review rescue and relief operations in the district.

Devastation

The Sept 24 earthquake had ravaged dozens of villages, flattening thousands of mudhouses and killing hundreds of people in Balochistan, especially in Awaran and Kech districts.

According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), more than 30 villages, containing some 20,000 homes, were flattened across 15,400 square miles of the remote region. The death toll from powerful earthquakes has now risen to 900.

Over 2,000 troops, 14 helicopters and two C-130 aircraft of Pakistan Air Force are participating in relief work in Awaran, according to ISPR.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2013.