G-B receives warning of militant attack

Interior ministry speculates Karakoram Highway might be targeted.

GILGIT: Some militants have planned attacks on passengers and government officials on Karakoram Highway (KKH) and in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) before Eidul Azha, the interior ministry has warned the G-B government.

The threat has come days before Eid when people from different parts of the country and the world might head to G-B to celebrate the festival with their families. This is the time when there is an increase in traffic on Karakoram Highway, the major highway connecting G-B with rest of the country.

“A plan has been prepared by a banned militant outfit belonging to Kohistan, a district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,” stated the letter written by the National Counter Terrorism Authority this week. It is addressed to the home department of G-B, asking it to take appropriate measures to foil the attacks.

The ministry has further warned that the militants have arranged uniforms and weapons, and have entered Gilgit in order to execute the plan.

“These militants may hit government officials or passengers to avenge the killing of Mufti Amanullah,” it added.

Meanwhile, police and other law-enforcement agencies have stepped up security in the town, they have increased vigilance and have started checking vehicles and passengers at entry points.

The region has seen an increase in violence in the recent past. In February 2012, four buses travelling to G-B were stopped on a deserted section of the KKH and 25 Shia men and children were shot dead. Moreover, the June 22, 2013 attack at the base camp for Nanga Parbat was one of the deadliest assaults on foreigners in the country. At least 10 foreign climbers and their Pakistani guide were killed by militants dressed as G-B scouts.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2^nd, 2014.