PM, Field Marshal vow to end India-backed terrorism after Khuzdar attack

QUETTA:

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir stated that it is time for the nation to display a strong resolve—similar to that shown recently against aggression by India—to bring the fight against foreign-sponsored terrorism to a logical and decisive end.

PM Shehbaz and Field Marshal Munir paid an emergency visit to Quetta to meet the injured children and other victims of the attack that targeted a school bus in Khuzdar, which left at least five people, including three schoolchildren, martyred.

According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti and Quetta Corps Commander briefed the PM and Field Marshal on the heinous incident.

The PM expressed that the entire nation stands resolute behind its Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies in the collective will to eradicate the scourge of terrorism and safeguard the sovereignty and security of Pakistan.

He emphasised that India’s reliance on such morally indefensible tactics, particularly the deliberate targeting of children, demands urgent attention from the international community. The use of terrorism as a tool of foreign policy must be unequivocally condemned and confronted.

Premier Sharif said that Pakistan’s security forces and law enforcement agencies will relentlessly pursue all those involved in this barbaric act.

“The architects, abettors, and enablers of this crime will be held accountable and brought to justice, and the truth about India’s cunning role—as the real perpetrator of terrorism, while feigning victimhood—stands exposed before the world,” he added.

The PM, federal ministers, and Field Marshal expressed deep grief over the loss of innocent lives and the injuries sustained by the school-going children. Upon seeing the badly wounded and critically injured children, they condemned the attack as a shameful and despicable act of terrorism carried out by Indian-sponsored proxies.

“In a reprehensible and cowardly act of terrorism, a school bus carrying innocent children was targeted today in Khuzdar, Balochistan by state-sponsored proxies (Fitna Al Hindustan) of India, which the world has largely come to know as the epicentre of instability in the region,” the statement read.

Read More: Three children among five martyred in Khuzdar school bus attack

“Following the gross failure to intimidate Pakistan through overt military means, dastardly terrorist incidents are being orchestrated through these proxies at an intensified scale in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, deliberately targeting civilians in a futile attempt to destabilise Pakistan,” it added.

It further stated that these terrorist groups—masquerading under ethnic pretenses—are not only exploited by India as instruments of state policy, but also stand as a stain on the honour and values of the Baloch and Pashtun people, who have long rejected violence and extremism.

Khuzdar School Bus Attack

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 military’s media wing 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 ISPR added 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.

Soon after the deadly attack, security forces threw a cordon around the area and launched an investigation. Security was tightened in and around Khuzdar following the bombing, with checkpoints established and patrols intensified to prevent further attacks.

ISPR unmasks India’s state-sponsored terror

Last month, Lt-Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) provided evidence of India’s state-sponsored cross-border terrorism in Pakistan, particularly Balochistan, announcing the arrest of an Indian-trained Pakistani citizen, and recovery of an Indian drone and improvised explosive device (IED) from him.

Addressing a press conference to inform the public about the current security situation in the country and address India’s baseless allegation, the DG ISPR said that India was actively involved in spreading terrorism within Pakistan, operating and supporting terrorist networks on Pakistani soil.

Lt-Gen Chaudhry said that India had been found operating terror networks inside Pakistan, in which explosives, IEDs, and other lethal materials were being supplied to terrorists to target not only the security forces but also innocent civilians.

Read More: ISPR unmasks India’s state-sponsored terror

The DG ISPR said that on April 25, an arrest was made near the Jhelum bus stand. “A man named Abdul Majeed, who was reportedly trained in India, was taken into custody. Authorities recovered an IED, two mobile phones, and Rs70,000 cash from him,” he added.

Further investigation led to the recovery of an Indian drone from his house, and Rs1 million in cash. “The handler was a junior commissioned officer of the Indian Army, Subedar Sukvinder,” he said, adding: “The Indian officer had sent the IED and instructed the terrorist to collect it from a designated location.”

“A forensic analysis of the recovered materials provided irrefutable evidence that could be examined by any credible, independent agency,” he said. “This irrefutable evidence is just one small component of the broader pattern of state-sponsored terrorism being orchestrated by India,” the DG said.