QUETTA, Balochistan, 20 October (H.S.): The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for a series of coordinated attacks in Mastung, Balghatar, and Sorab that resulted in the deaths of three Pakistani military officers. The separatist group also seized weapons and set fire to heavy machinery in the operations.In a separate incident of violence on Sunday, the brother of a prominent legislator was assassinated by unidentified gunmen.

The province is also experiencing civil unrest, as members of the Levies force have begun protesting a government decision to merge the historic paramilitary body with the police.Jehind Baloch, a spokesperson for the BLA, stated that on October 17, the group’s operatives ambushed an infantry patrol in the Mastung area and also destroyed machinery being used to construct a military checkpoint. In Balghatar, a military officer was killed in a remote-controlled IED explosion. A day earlier, on October 16, BLA fighters overran a Levies force checkpoint in Sorab, seizing weapons from the post which they claimed was involved in extortion.The spokesperson confirmed the loss of two BLA fighters in the Sorab engagement.

Meanwhile, political tensions escalated in the Panjgur district on the evening of October 19, when armed assailants shot and killed Waleed Saleh Baloch near his home in Chitkan. The victim was the younger brother of Mir Rehmat Saleh Baloch, a member of the Balochistan Assembly and a central leader of the National Party. Police reported that the attackers fled the scene, and an investigation is underway.

Adding to the regional instability, Levies personnel have launched protests in Kalat against a government notification to integrate the force into the provincial police department. Demonstrators argue that the 142-year-old Levies force has a distinct and vital role in maintaining peace and that previous attempts to merge it with the police have failed.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar