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BLUF claims responsibility for killing DSP, entices Balochs to quit state apparatus
The Baloch Hal News
QUETTA: The Baloch Liberation United Front (BLUF) has accepted responsibility for the killing of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and two other members of the Balochistan Constabulary (BC) in a firing incident in the provincial capital, Quetta, on Saturday after ambushing their vehicle.
According to Online News agency, Shahaq Baloch, a spokesman for the underground Baloch separatist group, called from an unknown location via satellite phone and accepted responsibility for the incident and warned all the Balochs to give up their affiliation with the state-controlled institutions of Pakistan or face ‘dire consequences’.
BLUF is a relatively new armed group in Balochistan but it has gained overwhelming attention due to its unanticipated activities. The organization rose to prominence earlier this year in February when it kidnapped John Solecki, an American head of the Balochistan sub-office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in an effort to coax the Balochistan government to release the Baloch political activists held in the government custody. The BLUF tremendously upset the Balochistan government later in the year by killing the provincial education minister Shafiq Ahmed by saying that the murder of the non-Baloch minister had been carried out to avenge the killing of three Baloch leaders in Turbat in April this year allegedly by the personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC).
The BLUF spokesman said that the killing of the DSP and two other policemen was intended to send a clear message to all Balochs serving in the police to give up their jobs in the police department.
“We do not want the Balochs to serve in Pakistan’s police. Further attacks will be carried out in the future against those who defy the warning and continue to serve for the Pakistani forces,” said the spokesman,” our operations will continue till the complete independence of Balochistan.”
On Saturday morning, Habibullah Qaisarani, the DSP had left his home and was on the way to office when unidentified motorcyclists ambushed his car on Jail Road. As a result, Habibullah and two other policemen died on the spot. The other two persons killed in the incident were identified as Mohammad Aslam, an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) and Shafiq Ahmed, a constable.
“Some five personnel of the police were going to the office when they were ambushed. Three officials, including the DSP, Habibullah, were killed on spot,” a senior police officer told The Baloch Hal, “The driver of the van, Nazeer Ahmed, and a constable Mohammad Yasir received wounds in the attack.”
Police officials had said at the time of the incident that it was premature to say who was responsible for the attack on the police team but did not rule of the possibility of target killings. They said they were investigating the matter and looking for the culprits involved in the incident.
On 17 November, an assassination attempt on the life of Balochistan’s deputy inspector general (DIG) Shahid Nizam Durrani had failed but a passerby had been killed when unidentified people had planted a six-kilogram bomb at a motorcycle stand.
Soon after the firing incident on Saturday, Quetta police cordoned off the area and further tightened the security in different sensitive parts of the provincial capital. The slain DSP was a resident of Dera Ghazi Khan while Mohammad Aslam belonged to Khoshab area of the Punjab province.
The dead bodies were taken to Quetta’s hospital for medical and legal formalities. The Nimaz-e-Janaza of the murdered policemen was offered at Quetta’s Police Line. Scores of senior police officers and the general public attended the final prayers of the policemen.
Balochistan’s chief minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani had strongly condemned the killing of three police personnel and directed the concerned officials to bring the masterminds of the incident to justice.
Quetta city presented a deserted and tense look after the spread of the news of three policemen’s killing. Balochistan government has been making extraordinary measures to thwart any kind of untoward incident in the wake of Moharam processions in the city.
