Why did Pakistan get such a big blow from the attack in this city of Balochistan? What is India Connection?

Posted on 21st Feb 2022 by rohit kumar

Last week, nine soldiers and 20 extremists were killed in armed attacks on FC headquarters in Balochistan's Panjgur and Noshki areas.

 

During this attack, due to the curfew-like situation in Panjgur, journalists couldn't enter the city.

 

But after the situation became normal, the BBC team visited this city and tried to understand the ground situation.

 

When I decided to go to Panjgur, the first thought that came to my mind was that the officials would send me back from the check post as the Panjgur was under curfew-like conditions during the operation which lasted for almost three days and no outsiders were allowed to come here. was not.

 

With these apprehensions, I was ready to go to Panjgur at four in the morning. From Zero Point on Gwadar Highway, one road leads to Turbat and the other to Pasni. The security personnel posted at zero point asked the vehicle to move forward without stopping the vehicle, indicating with a torchlight.

 

There were six more check posts on the way to Turbat, and the same thing happened to all of them. That is, without stopping the car, asked to go ahead with the gesture of the torch.

 

The road to Panjgur is as wide as any other area in the southwest of Balochistan. Along the way, there is a desert on one side and a mountain range on the other.

 

Here houses are not visible on the way and the phone's network is almost closed. Signals come for a short time only after reaching near a check post or city.

 

The checkpoint where the vehicle stopped

 

During the yatra, around 5 a.m., blue vehicles carrying Iranian oil and diesel, locally known as zambad, started appearing on the road.

 

The city of Sarwan in Iran is adjacent to Panjgur, from where large quantities of washing powder, food items, and cooking oil are brought.

 

Up to 75 percent of the electricity supply of Turbat, Panjgur, Pasni, and Gwadar is also from Iran. Almost all the border areas of the southwest are dependent on Iranian food, and it would not be wrong to say that if these shipments are stopped, there may be a shortage of food in these areas.

 

It was daylight and at that very moment, we saw a check post.

 

This was the first checkpoint during the two-hour journey where we were stopped and asked to proceed without answering more questions.

 

Our driver, in a winning style, attributed the recent Maulana's dharna in Gwadar as the reason for not stopping much at the check post.

 

It should be remembered that one of the main demands of this dharna was to end the unnecessary restrictions of the local people at the security check posts.

 

As we were getting closer to Panjgur, the number of vehicles on the road was increasing. After another hour, date palm trees appeared, and on the right hand the board of the city of Panjgur. The road just opposite this board goes to Panjgur.

 

changing conditions on the ground

 

When talking to analyst Rafiullah Kakad on the phone about Panjgur's situation, he said that now the situation is going in a completely different direction.

 

He pointed out that the 'recent extremist rise is now part of the thinking of the youth living in the south-west of Balochistan and "it has been increasing for a long time".

 

The city of Panjgur has historically been famous for its culture and anti-poems, but in the last 20 years there has been a rapid increase in militancy and now the educated youth here also seem to be influenced by this thinking.

 

When our vehicle entered Panjgur town, not only were the markets open but there was a huge crowd.

 

Loading and unloading of trucks were being done, many shopkeepers were looking at the shutters of their shops, most of the shop shutters were marked with bullets and shrapnel, shopkeepers were watching them.

 

Near the same market is Panjgur's press club, where a journalist reported that soon after the attack, he sent several WhatsApp messages to his organization.

 

But got no reply. "I thought they didn't get my messages. I found out later that this silence meant not reporting the news at all."

 

Meanwhile, a shopkeeper asked us to accompany him to show us the bullet marks at his shop.

 

The shopkeeper said, "I have not seen such an attack in 20 years, during which there have been so many explosions. The situation has been deteriorating earlier also but this time the situation is beyond comprehension."

 

Note that he was one of the few shopkeepers of the count who said that he could speak and understand Urdu. Many people here were hesitant to talk to me simply because they wanted to speak 'good Urdu' and would politely fold their hands when they could not.

 

missing Balochistan

 

A middle-aged shopkeeper from the crowd gathered around me said, "Our news did not come on your channel. Balochistan was missing for four days."

 

We were just talking when a bang came and many people started saying 'Allahu Akbar'. The president of Anjuman-e-Taziran of the same market said there was nothing to worry about, as he said explosives were being defused in the FC camp.

 

Some distance away from Chitkan Bazar of Panjgur is the FC camp where the attackers attacked.

 

This is not the first time that Baloch militants have carried out a suicide attack. Four days after the most recent attack, work was still going on to deactivate the explosive material.