Balochistan Counter-Terrorism Department’s (CTD) Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Aitzaz Goraya on Thursday said terrorists were using the platform of Balochistan Yakjehti Committee (BYC) to induct youth into their networks.
Goraya made the remarks while addressing a joint press conference alongside Balochistan Additional Chief Secretary Hamza Shafqaat in Quetta, where he gave details about a terrorist arrested during an operation in Panjgur.
According to Goraya, the CTD, police and law enforcement agencies arrested a man, Sajid Ahmad alias Shahwaiz, who was a resident of Turbat during the operation.
He said the man had received a Master’s degree in Sociology from the International Islamic University in Islamabad, then worked on contract at Zubaida Jalal Government College for three years, before teaching at the University of Turbat.
The CTD DIG said Sajid had “remained with BYC and was in constant communication with its leadership”.
“One thing that has surfaced prominently is the role of the BYC. Every man or child who is facilitating or [is involved in] what they call a sharing network or intelligence network […] they are somehow linked to the BYC,“ the CTD DIG said.
“Besides Sajid, we have also arrested three others against whom we are registering FIRs (first information reports),” Goraya added.
He said that one of them was 18-year-old Sarfaraz, who was a resident of Kharan and had been tasked with conducting a recce of the police and their polio duties.
“He was also first made to join the BYC, involved in their protests and roadblocks,” the CTD official said, adding that the person who inducted him into BYC was Jahanzaib alias Mehrbaan, aged 20 years.
According to Goraya, Jahanzaib also “inducted” 18-year-old Bezan into the BYC, following which he joined the so-called Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).
Bezan‘s brother Shafqat Yar was killed in firing when the Levies force was attacked in Khad Kocha, DIG Goraya said.
He further said that Jahanzaib had been involved in BYC’s roadblocks in Noshki and Kharan. “He participated in the BYC’s so-called missing persons protests and properly organised who to bring and what to post on social media,” the DIG said.
“All these are those people and children who were subverted, and their minds were used to take them to the other side and assigned these small tasks,” he said.
“Fitna al-Hindustan, they say we do not induct children, we do not use women or children, but again and again we have said — even today we are telling you with evidence — that they first use the platform of BYC and then they take them forward by using children,” the DIG stated.
The state has designated Balochistan-based terrorist groups as Fitna-al-Hindustan to highlight India’s alleged role in terrorism and destabilisation across Pakistan.
Goraya said there was a “proper network being run that depends on underage children, as they are not thoroughly checked when going to schools and colleges“.
“We must bring these things into their parents’ knowledge,” he stressed, adding that such youngsters would be taken to internment and rehabilitation centres that were being established in Quetta and Turbat, “so we can check how much their minds have been subverted”.
“We will hold dialogue with them, provide psychological treatment, and involve their parents and society’s notables. We will take them ahead as an improved, responsible citizen,” the CTD DIG said.
DIG Goraya detailed that the items recovered from Sajid’s vehicle when he was apprehended included a rocket-propelled grenade, five rockets, two M-16 rifles with 23 magazines and 800 rounds, 20 hand grenades with 22 fuses, 30 C4 explosive slabs, one jacket, remote controls, 13 UBGL rounds, a compass, helmets and 30 feet of detonating cord.