Targeted operations to start in Balochistan: Malik

Interior minister Rehman Malik on Wednesday announced that the federal government has given the chief minister of Balochistan the authority to award police powers to the Frontier Constabulary (FC) to tackle law and order situation in the province.

Addressing a press conference in Quetta, he said that every law enforcement action will be led by the police. Malik added that this is not a security operation but it is rather a targeted action based on intelligence reports.

The interior minister said that the police and FC will gather all the intelligence. He added that he never said that there would be Swat style operations in Balochistan.

He appealed to the militants not to kill innocent people for money, adding that the enemy is aimed at dismembering the country.

Malik said that it was decided in a high level meeting that every organisation whose name bears the word “liberation” or “lashkar” is banned from now onwards. These organisations include BRA, BLA, BLUF, BMBT, Lashkar-i-Baluchistan and BLF. Their accounts will be frozen and people involved in them can be arrested up to one year.

Blast in Hub

Earlier, on the same day, a blast took place in Hub that killed two people and injured six others.

Sources said unknown persons planted the device in a shop in Rind Market.

Security forces cordoned off the area and started investigations, while the injured were shifted to nearby hospitals.