QUETTA: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Sunday assured the Balochistan Government of complete assistance from the centre to counter terrorism.
Talking to media-men, he said the provincial government would be provided the latest security equipment along with financial resources. The army would provide 5,000 sub-machine guns (SMGs) to Balochistan and start a training programme for police on an emergency basis, the minister added.
Nisar said that capacity building of civil armed forces and postings of competent police officers in the province will also be worked towards.
Chief Minister Abdul Malik Baloch, Chief Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Mohammad, Home Secretary Akbar Durrani, IG Police Mushtaq Sukhera, IG Frontier Corps Obaidullah Khattak and other senior police officers attended the meeting.
The chief secretary and the home secretary briefed the interior minister about the law and order situation in the province and steps taken by the provincial government.
Nisar said the surge in terrorist incidents during the last one and-a-half months was a reaction to the unprecedented success of law enforcement agencies against the terrorist outfits active in the province.
“The law enforcement agencies have managed to bust all the culprits involved in the attack on a students bus of Sardar Bahadur Khan Women University on June 15 last,” he said.
Nisar stressed the need for better coordination among the provincial government, Balochistan Frontier Corps, local setup of Inter Services Intelligence and Intelligence Bureau to achieve sustainable peace in the province.
"All political forces and stakeholders are being taken on board," he added.
“The nation is fighting a war for the last 13 years without a proper policy which has played havoc with the country beyond expectations,” he said.
The interior minister said that a decision to make Quetta a secure and arms-free city would be taken soon and police, Frontier Corps (FC), Levies and other security institutions had assured to comply.
Referring to the Quetta Police Line tragedy, he paid tribute to those killed, whose sacrifice, he said, for the province and the country would not be in vain.
In reply to a question, Nisar said the national security policy was under preparation. “We want to give a security policy that can be implemented without any hurdle.” He said the federal government and its institutions concerned were studying security policies of several countries.
He said no government during the past 13 years had thought about preparing a national security policy, but the present government had decided to thrash out a “comprehensive and meaningful policy” to rid the country of terrorists and their networks.
The policy would be finalised after consulting leaders of all political parties and stakeholders, he added.