India Saturday night rubbished as "utterly baseless and false" Pakistan's allegation that New Delhi was supporting violence in Balochistan.
Two important Corps Commands at Multan and Bahawalpur, as also the posts of Adjutant General and Quartermaster General at General Headquarters now stand vacant, reveals Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Two bombs exploded in Kalat. A device was planted in the building of Nadra that went off, destroying its offices. A hand grenade was hurled into a telephone exchange.
Senior Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz leader Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday claimed there was 'concrete' proof of India's alleged involvement in fomenting unrest in Pakistan's Balochistan province and tribal areas. Sharif, the brother of former premier and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, claimed India is involved in disrupting peace in tribal regions like Balochistan and Waziristan. "There is concrete information that India has a dirty role in destabilising Balochistan," he said.
This is for the first time the disturbed areas in the control of Pakistan have been mentioned by any Indian prime minister during his Independence Day speech.
Home Minister P Chidambaram has categorically stated that India has nothing to do with Balochistan. He also made it clear that the Congress will rally behind the government over the Indo-Pak joint statement when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh speaks in Parliament next week. "We are not involved in Balochistan. We have nothing to do with the internal problem of Pakistan. In fact, a Baloch leader has said that he gets no support from India," he said.
Pakistan's ministry of foreign affairs said that the violation of Pakistan's sovereignty is "completely unacceptable" and warned of serious consequences.
Islamabad also summoned the Iranian charge d'affaires here and issued a strongly worded condemnation of Iran's "violation of its airspace", the Foreign Office said.
Since Sunday there have been around 50 such attacks carried out in the province and in one incident in Sibi town attackers targeted an election rally of a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party-backed candidate for the National Assembly in which four people lost their lives and six were injured.
This is the first time Chinese official media referred to Modi's remarks about PoK and Balochistan.
Pakistan on Thursday said that the country's air force struck terrorist hideouts in Iran's Siestan-Balochistan province, a day after Islamabad recalled its ambassador from Tehran in the wake of Iranian missile and drone strikes in Balochistan.
At the same time, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said it is a matter between Iran and Pakistan.
Pakistan has said it is facing "certain problems" in Balochistan and tribal areas because of the "Indian presence" in Afghanistan.
'Even if it is difficult to replicate Bangladesh, India can cause sufficient turmoil in Pakistan to keep it off balance,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Amidst concerns expressed by India over the military operation in Balochistan, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said the action against tribals and nationalists in the province, who were agitating for more autonomy, would continue.
Dozens of UK-based Baloch and Sindhi protesters gathered outside the Chinese embassy in Londonand held a protest against Pakistan and China.
Hitting out at Pakistan, India said on Thursday that its western neighbour was "striving hard to fabricate" evidence to show India was fomenting trouble in Balochistan. External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told the Rajya Sabha that India has conveyed to Pakistan at the highest level that it had no interest in destabilising the neighbouring country.
Reacting to India's comments on the situation in Balochistan, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said it was "unwarranted".
China Thursday offered to play a 'constructive role' to ease tension between Pakistan and Iran following their missile strikes against each other over the last two days and asked the two countries to 'exercise restraint and calmness and avoid escalation'.
Contrary to popular perception, the abductors are not separatists
Pakistan, which has taken serious exception to the moving of the Balochistan bill in the US Congress, has decided to undertake an international diplomatic offensive to counter the move, says Amir Mir
A bomb blast near a bus killed at least two people and injured dozens in the restive Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan on Monday, officials said.
The army said that three terrorists were "neutralised while entering the base while the remaining three terrorists have been cornered/isolated due to timely and effective response by the troops".
India is interfering in Pakistan's internal affairs through "information centers" it has set up in Afghanistan and promoting terrorism in Balochistan, caretaker Information Minister Nisar Memon has said.
Pakistan military Thursday said it used multiple weapons, including killer drones, to carry out effective strikes against hideouts inside Iran used by militants of two leading Baloch terrorist groups responsible for recent attacks in the country.
Pakistani security forces have arrested a person they claimed was an Indian national in an area in Balochistan province near the border with Afghanistan, the officials said.
Neither the Indian government nor any other agency had anything to do with any terror operations in Balochsitan, External Affairs Minister Pranab Kumar Mukherjee said in the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.
The foreign ministry's statement came amidst the reported visit of Foreign Minister Sun Weidong to Pakistan on a mediation mission.
Four people were killed in Mashkal area of Kharan district.
The war of words, a common feature in the complex Indo-Pak relations, has re-surfaced after several months and comes weeks before the foreign secretaries of the two countries meet to carry forward the composite dialogue process.\n\n
Pakistan may want to undertake a 'false flag' operation in J&K to divert attention from the situation in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but infiltrating one SSG battalion into J&K and having two SSG battalions waiting to follow suit means war, which Pakistan cannot afford in its current economic crisis, notes Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
As China's Foreign Minister Sun Weidong visited Pakistan on a mediation mission, a statement from Foreign Ministry on Monday said it is maintaining close contacts with Pakistan and Iran to 'bridge their differences'.
The Pakistani authorities are hoping that the Chinese agreement to take over the operation of the Gwadar port could act as a deterrent to India whom they suspect of helping the Baloch freedom-fighters, notes B Raman.
Senior officials said that while AIR has a service in Baloch language, which commenced in 1974, the broadcaster is now looking to augment the news bulletin component.
Barely minutes before the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan met for crucial and significant day-long talks at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said both Balochistan and Kashmir will be on the agenda for Thursday's talks.Bashir made these remarks shortly before leaving his hotel for Hyderabad House. Bashir is leading a four-member delegation in the talks to be held with Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.
Asim Malik's shift to the important DG, ISI post comes as something of a surprise now, but it indicates the army chief's confidence in him, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Thursday defended Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on the joint statement issued after his meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Egypt.However, his statement had few takers, and most experts feel that the reference to Baluchistan in the joint statement would prove to be a costly blunder.The Bharatiya Janata Party has also criticised Dr Singh.
The death toll is feared to rise with women and children casualties in the deadly blast.
Fourteen paramilitary troopers were killed in an ambush by militants in Balochistan, one of the deadliest attacks in the restive province of southwest Pakistan in recent months.
