Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has termed two major terrorist groups operating in Pakistan – proscribed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as “Indian proxies”.
Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’ late on Wednesday, he asserted that Islamabad would present “complete evidence” of New Delhi’s alleged involvement in the Khuzdar blast that killed at least six people — including three children — and injured more than 40, many of them female students.
The suspected bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the school bus as it drove past Zero Point near Rakhshan Hotel, Deputy Commissioner Yasir Iqbal Dashti said, adding that the bus was ferrying students to the Army Public School situated within the Khuzdar cantonment.
The vehicle was rigged with more than 30 kilograms of explosives, according to the Bomb Disposal Squad.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) stated that “three innocent children and two adults have embraced Shahadat” and multiple children have sustained injuries in the “cowardly and ghastly attack planned and orchestrated by the terrorist state of India and executed by its proxies in Balochistan.
“The BLA and TTP are being financed and directed by India. They have nothing to do with nationalism or religion,” Asif said. “We will corroborate everything we have claimed.”
Asif described the attack as an assault on non-combatants and said “Pakistan will strike with full force” against those responsible. He linked the BLA directly to India, saying its leadership operated from New Delhi.
The minister also criticised India for rejecting Pakistan’s call for a joint investigation into last month’s Pahalgam attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), which left 26 dead.
“India, without any proof, blamed us. But we have evidence linking India to the BLA and to violence inside Pakistan,” he said.
Earlier, ISPR had said that India has unleashed its proxies to spread terror and unrest in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa through such heinous and cowardly acts after miserably failing on the battlefield.
“Having failed in the Operation Bunnianum Marsoos and being hunted by military and law enforcement agencies, these Indian terror proxies are being employed as a state tool by India to foment terrorism in Pakistan against soft targets such as innocent children and civilians,” added the ISPR.
“Use of terrorism as a state policy by Indian political government is abhorrent and reflective of their low morality and disregard for basic human norms,” said the ISPR in a statement.
The military further added that planners, abettors and executors of this cowardly Indian-sponsored attack will be hunted down and brought to justice and the heinous face of India will be exposed in front of the entire world. “Pakistan Armed Forces with support of brave Pakistani nation stand united to uproot Indian-sponsored terrorism from Pakistan in its all manifestations.”
