ISLAMABAD: The multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project is being targeted by various militants in Afghanistan, the Pakistani anti-terrorism unit has said. The information was released by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) CTD Javed Iqbal Wazir. News International reports that more than 90 percent of militant groups are planning and operating attacks across the Afghan border, especially in the Balochistan region.
Afghanistan today is a land of anarchy without proper governance. With the rise of the second Taliban government, Pakistan has now accused several small-scale militant groups that had been operating quietly in Afghanistan of increasing their membership and leading the attacks. The Pakistani counter-terrorism ministry has said that such groups in Afghanistan are mainly targeting the CPEC project, a joint venture between China and Pakistan.
According to CTD Javed Iqbal Wazir, they are targeting major project areas, polio teams and financial projects. He also claimed that the department had cracked down on five key Islamic State groups during counter-terrorism operations in Peshawar and Bannu last year. The DIG CTD said such militant groups have been involved in more than 40 killings, including attacks on polio vaccination groups in Khorasan province (ISKP).
He claimed that 110 terrorists were killed and 599 arrested by the CTD during operations across the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region last year. According to The News International, he added that this included several arrests valued at millions of rupees per head. He also claimed that the army had nabbed several gangs, including robbers, killers and other militants.
According to the Pakistan newspaper, Javed Iqbal said that in the past one year, 2,397 kilograms of explosives, 206 hand grenades, five suicide jackets, 31,076 detonators and seven RPG rockets had been seized from the CDD militants, thereby thwarting major terrorist attempts. However, there has been an increase in terrorist attacks in Balochistan province, which shares a border with Afghanistan, last year.
Terrorism in this south-western Pakistani province has increased by 90% in 2021 compared to the previous year, a local government official said yesterday. According to government officials, 137 terrorist activities took place in the area last year. More than 130 people were killed, including members of the law enforcement agencies.