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ISLAMABAD: The chief minister of the southwestern Balochistan province on Thursday accused India’s top intelligence agency of attempting to unite militants who seek to destabilize Pakistan, as Islamabad struggles to contain surging militancy in its western regions. 

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land yet its poorest by almost all social and economic indicators, has been hit hard by an insurgency for decades now. Ethnic Baloch separatist militants accuse Islamabad of denying locals a share in the province’s mineral resources, an allegation the federal government and military deny. 

These militant groups, the most prominent among them being the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), have frequently launched attacks targeting law enforcers, civilians and commuters from the eastern Punjab province. 

“They [India’s intelligence agency RAW] have launched an intelligence-based war against us and are trying to unite all those who seek to destabilize Pakistan,” Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti told reporters at a media briefing in Islamabad. 

India, Pakistan’s arch-rival and nuclear-armed neighbor, has repeatedly denied Islamabad’s accusations that it arms and funds militant groups in the southwestern province. New Delhi accuses Islamabad of supporting militants in the disputed Kashmir territory it administers, a charge Pakistan has always denied. 

Apart from accusing India of stoking militancy in Pakistan, Islamabad also blames Afghanistan’s government for not taking action against militants that it alleges operate from sanctuaries in Afghanistan. The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan rejects these allegations and urges Pakistan to resolve their security challenges internally. 

Bugti reminded Afghanistan’s government that it had assured Islamabad it would not allow militants to use Afghan soil to launch attacks against Pakistan. 

“They [terrorists] have safe havens in Afghanistan and have been provided places for the training camps,” he said. “And they attack us from there.”

The chief minister pointed out that several militants recently killed by security forces in Pakistan were Afghan nationals. 

Pakistani security forces have intensified operations in its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan province after an uptick in violence in these regions. According to an Islamabad-based think tank, Pakistan witnessed a sharp escalation in militant violence in August, with attacks reaching their highest monthly level in more than a decade. 

The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), which tracks militancy, recorded 143 militant attacks in August in a report it published earlier this month. It said Balochistan saw 28 attacks in August that killed 52 people, including 23 security personnel and 21 civilians. 

Last week, unidentified kidnappers killed senior government officer Assistant Commissioner (AC) Muhammad Afzal and his son in Balochistan. On Sept. 15, five soldiers were killed in an IED blast that took place when security forces were moving for a sanitization operation in Balochistan’s Kech district. 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik on Thursday discussed the need for a National Resilience Plan 2025-26, aimed at enhancing preparations and mitigating climate-related disasters, ahead of next year’s monsoon season. 

Heavy monsoon rains and floods in Pakistan have killed around 1,006 people and injured 1,063 nationwide since Jun. 26. The country’s most populous Punjab province reported massive devastation in late August after heavy rains coupled with water released by dams in India, triggered floods. At least 134 people were killed while over 4.5 million were affected by the deluges, as the provincial Punjab government launched the largest rescue and relief operation in its history to evacuate over 2.6 million people to safer locations. 

Malik called on NDMA Chairman Lt. Gen Inam Haider Malik in Islamabad to discuss strategies to reduce losses inflicted by climate-related disasters on humans, infrastructure, crops and livestock via a National Resilience Plan 2025-26, the climate change ministry said. 

“The plan aims to enhance preparedness for the upcoming 2026 monsoon season and to mitigate the devastation caused by natural disasters,” the ministry said in a statement.

Malik stressed the importance of creating a “robust mechanism” that delivers tangible results for the most vulnerable communities. 

“The Federal Minister further observed that the current disaster response system is fragmented and requires integration into a single, streamlined framework that is quick, coordinated, and effective,” the climate change ministry said. 

Malik reaffirmed the government’s commitment to work closely with the NDMA and all stakeholders to ensure a “comprehensive and unified disaster management strategy.”

The NDMA chairman laid emphasis on the need to identify vulnerable regions across Pakistan and assess their exposure to specific risks including floods, cloudbursts, glacial melt, glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) and landslides. 

Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change despite contributing less than one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. 

Catastrophic floods in 2022 killed nearly 1,700 people, submerged a third of the country at one point, and inflicted over $30 billion in damages, according to government estimates.

The government has stressed the importance of early warning systems and disaster mitigation efforts, as experts warn future monsoon seasons could cause even more destruction across Pakistan.