QUETTA: Authorities in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province sacked 15 paramilitary personnel of Levies, it emerged Saturday, for showing “cowardice” by surrendering to armed militants of a separatist group following an attack on Zehri, a small town in Khuzdar district, on January 8.
Dozens of ethnic Baloch separatists entered the area and took control of Zehri Bazaar for several hours, setting government properties on fire and robbing Rs768,000 ($2,745) from a private bank.
Footage and pictures seen by Arab News showed armed fighters roaming the streets of the town after seizing weapons, vehicles and motorbikes from the paramilitary force.
Security forces later reclaimed the town following skirmishes with the militants, during which one soldier was injured.
“The Levies officials clearly showed cowardice and irresponsibility,” said a notification seen by Arab News. “The undersigned is of the view that there is no need to conduct any formal inquiry.”
Prepared by Khuzdar’s deputy commissioner, Yasir Iqbal Dashti, the notification was issued on January 9, a day after the incident.
Dashti confirmed the development to Arab News, saying the district administration had terminated the services of Levies personnel who did not fight the militants.
An outlawed armed separatist faction, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), claimed responsibility for the attack.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by landmass and rich in mineral resources, has long faced a low-level insurgency led by separatist groups like the BLA, who accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources, such as gold and copper, while neglecting the local population.
Pakistani governments deny these allegations, saying that it has prioritized Balochistan’s development through investments in health, education and infrastructure projects.
The BLA has emerged as a significant security threat in recent years, carrying out major attacks in Balochistan and Sindh provinces while targeting security forces, ethnic Punjabis and Chinese nationals working on development projects.
Violence by Baloch separatist factions, primarily the BLA, killed about 300 people last year, according to official statistics, marking an escalation in the decades-long conflict.
Balochistan sacks 15 Levies personnel for surrendering to separatists in Khuzdar attack
https://arab.news/24ucf
Balochistan sacks 15 Levies personnel for surrendering to separatists in Khuzdar attack
- Dozens of armed militants took control of a small town in the district, set government properties on fire
- Khuzdar’s top administration official says paramilitary personnel showed ‘cowardice’ by not fighting
UN says 270,000 Afghans have returned from Iran, Pakistan this year
- UNHCR says 110,000 Afghans returned from Iran while 160,000 returned from Pakistan since start of 2026
- Return numbers seem to have risen since Gulf war erupted on Feb. 28, says UNHCR official in Afghanistan
GENEVA: Some 270,000 Afghans have returned to their country from Pakistan and Iran so far this year, the UN said Tuesday, warning that the escalating Middle East war risked pushing the numbers higher.
UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency, said that 110,000 Afghans had returned from Iran and another 160,000 had returned from Pakistan since the start of 2026.
And the numbers seem to have risen since the Middle East erupted on February 28, with the United States and Israel unleashing a barrage of strikes on Iran, and Tehran responding with drone and missile strikes on Israeli and US interests across the region.
Since then, there have been some 1,700 returns from Iran to Afghanistan each day, Arafat Jamal, UNHCR’s representative in Afghanistan, told reporters in Geneva.
Speaking from Islam Qala, on the Afghan-Iranian border, he said the situation there was “deceptively calm.”
“Returns are orderly but freighted with tension and apprehension,” he said, adding that with the hostilities elsewhere escalating, “I do fear there is more to come.”
“We are preparing for massive returns.”
He pointed out that Afghanistan was “facing the ramifications of what is happening with Iran,” while clashes have erupted along the Afghan border with Pakistan.
The new Middle East war, he warned, was “layering itself on top of an existing war on another frontier,” Jamal said.
UNHCR highlighted that the latest crises came after returns to Afghanistan had already been “exceptionally high” in recent years.
More than five million Afghans had returned from neighboring countries in the past two years, including 1.9 million returning from Iran last year alone.
Jamal warned that “many Afghan families are now facing cycles of displacement: first forced to flee Afghanistan, later displaced again inside Iran due to conflict, and now returning once more to Afghanistan.”
“And upon return in Afghanistan, the triply-displaced enter a spiral of precarity and uncertainty.”
Returns from Pakistan had meanwhile stabilized in recent weeks, as the main crossing point at Torkham remained closed due to the tensions there, Jamal said.
But he warned that “movements could increase sharply once the border reopens.”
UNHCR and the UN children’s agency UNICEF said Tuesday they were working to strengthen their capacity to operate at the borders and within Afghanistan.
But “given the scale of returns and the financial constraints facing humanitarian operations, additional support will be needed if arrivals increase,” UNHCR said, without specifying the amount needed.
