RAW behind Mastung killings: Sarfraz Bugti

QUETTA: Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti on Saturday said that India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and its funded Lashkars (militias) were behind the Mastung killings. He was addressing a joint press conference along with Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik here at the CM Secretariat.
Bugti said on Friday night two helicopters took part in the operation against terrorists while on Saturday four were pressed into action. “We have engaged them (terrorists) into a large area, which has been cordoned off and now operation will move towards its conclusion,” he said.
The main objective of the terror act, he opined, was to sabotage the national consensus built on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). “But we too have a message for the terrorists that they will fail in pitching people of Pakistan against one another,” the minister said.
Earlier, Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik condemned the tragic incident saying it was a conspiracy to harm relations between brother communities. “We feared a strong reaction from the community who lost their men but fortunately the heirs of victims rose above their personal loss and joined hands with the government in its effort to arrest those involved,” he said.
He said the opposition leaders, government and its allies convinced the affected families to bury their loved ones. If the families had not accepted the government’s appeal, the enemy would have succeeded in its plan to damage communal harmony, he added.
The chief minister said the government would compensate the aggrieved families by the amount more than that was normally given in such cases.
To a question, he said it was the responsibility of the state and the government to provide security to the people. The government would review security arrangements and devise a better strategy to avoid similar incidents in future, he added.