KARACHI: Pakistan has decided to boost intelligence network and raise a special force to guard the mineral-rich Balochistan province and its borders with Iran and Afghanistan, a provincial government official said on Saturday.
The development comes days after Canadian giant Barrick Mining Corporation said it planned to “immediately” begin a comprehensive review of all aspects of the multibillion-dollar Reko Diq copper-gold project in Balochistan.
Barrick decision followed coordinated separatist attacks by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) group in several districts across Balochistan last Saturday that killed 36 civilians and 22 security personnel. Authorities said they had killed 216 militants in follow-up operations.
Mineral-rich Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, is the site of a decades-long insurgency waged by Baloch separatist groups who often attack security forces, foreigners and non-local Pakistanis and kidnap government officials.
“In light of the terrorists events, the provincial government in tandem with security forces is redesigning the entire security architecture,” Shahid Rind, an aide to Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti for media and political affairs, told Arab News.
