Militants block road linking Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan; demand release of accomplices

Islamabad: Militants demanding the release of their jailed accomplices set up blockades on one of the major arteries linking Pakistan's restive provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) with Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), leaving a senior minister and several tourists stranded, a media report said on Saturday.

A voice clip shared on social media on Friday purportedly features Senior GB Minister Abaidullah Baig as saying that he was on his way from Islamabad to Gilgit when militants blocked the road to press authorities for the release of their accomplices from jail.

Habibur Rahman, GB’s most wanted militant commander who was accused of killing 10 foreigners in Nanga Parbat, and his accomplices blocked the road in Thak village of Chilas in Diamer on Friday around 4 pm, leaving travellers on both sides stranded, the Dawn newspaper quoted a source as saying.

Sources said the militants were demanding the release of their accomplices, including those involved in the gruesome murder of foreigners in the Nanga Parbat area and other terrorist incidents in Diamer.

Sources said political leaders and officials from the district were enga­ged in negotiations with the militants. There was no response from the police so far.

Later, an audio clip said to be of the GB minister that surfaced on social media showed a man saying that negotiations with the commanders were underway who had two basic demands.

“They have sought the release of their accomplices from jails and imposition of Islamic laws, with no women sports activities,” he said.

The incident surfaced as Pakistan senators from both sides of the aisle on Friday sounded an alarm over the surge in terrorist activities by the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), while a senator sought a briefing over a recent threat alert issued by the interior ministry about the heightened risk of terrorist attacks by the banned outfit.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani, on a point of public concern, asked Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani to direct the interior minister to take parliament and the public at large into confidence about the present status of peace talks with the TTP.

The interior ministry had recently issued an alert over the increasing threat of terrorist attacks by the group or its factions after talks with the TTP broke down.

Rabbani pointed out that a call had been made to take parliament on board when the disclosure about dialogue with the TTP was made for the first time.

He, however, regretted that the demand about a matter linked with the future of coming generations fell on deaf ears.

Rabbani said nobody knew about the conditions of the ceasefire with the group and the status of the talks.

“It is the right of the people to know under what conditions dialogue with the group was held and on which point it ended and what threats the country is facing that the ministry is forced to issue the alert,” he said.

He said increasing terrorist activities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) were claiming the lives of army personnel and other law enforcement agencies for the last couple of months.

“Today, the state itself is saying that terrorism is increasing,” he deplored.

Earlier, during the question hour, Senators Seemee Ezdi and Azam Swati from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf expressed concern over the increase in terrorist attacks and said terrorists had reached Swat.

Senator Swati called for an in-camera briefing to the house on the issue.

State Minister for Law Shahadat Hussain conceded that terror activities had witnessed a sharp increase, but members of security forces were geared up to curb the menace and they were laying down their lives for the purpose, according to Dawn.