“Troops handicapped”: Pakistan attributes the nearly 250 deaths in Balochistan to topography while bringing up India once more.

The government of Pakistan has called for the deployment of a large number of troops due to the security situation in the huge and mountainous province of Balochistan, which is still tense. The comments from the Pakistani government coincide with reports that its security forces in Balochistan have lost 22 members and 36 civilians in combat with the insurgents. According to a security official cited by a news agency on Wednesday, Pakistan’s security forces have killed about 200 separatist rebels in Balochistan since they began a wave of attacks over the weekend, bringing the total death toll above 250.

The counterterrorism operation was initiated, according to officials, after militants from ethnic Baloch organizations attacked multiple places on Saturday.

There is a protracted armed insurgency in Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran. The $60 billion CPEC projects have been the subject of multiple attacks in the past by Baloch rebel organizations.

The proscribed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility in 2025 for the hijacking of the Jaffar Express train from Quetta to Peshawar in March, which resulted in the deaths of 31 civilians and security officials and the kidnapping of more than 300 passengers.

Khawaja Asif, Pakistan’s minister of defense, stated on Monday that the province’s expansive topography required the government to send a significant number of troops to Balochistan.

Speaking to the National Assembly, Asif claimed that the size of the area hindered the forces fighting the rebels.

“Balochistan constitutes over 40 per cent of Pakistan geographically…To control it is much more difficult than a populated city, and it needs deployment of massive forces. Our troops are deployed there and are in action against them (terrorists), but they are physically handicapped by guarding and patrolling such a big area,” PTI news agency quoted Asif as saying.

Speaking on the alleged nexus between criminals and militants, Asif said that criminal gangs were operating under the banner of the banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which protects smugglers. “In Balochistan, tribal elders, the bureaucracy and those running separatist movements have formed a nexus,” he said.

The defence minister said the smugglers were previously earning up to PKRs 4 billion a day from oil smuggling.

Asif argued that rationalising violence or “dressing it up as freedom movement” was not acceptable, emphasising that the government was committed to eliminating terrorism.

Asif repeated the anti-Indian rhetoric of the Pakistani government, asserting without proof that elements backed by India were acting as “proxies” in Balochistan and that Afghan territory was also utilized to fuel terrorism in the region. This was one of the standard strategies to divert attention away from Islamabad’s internal problems, and it comes two days after India denied claims made by Pakistani military and civilian officials that New Delhi was responsible for the string of strikes in Balochistan.Following the weekend attacks in Balochistan, Pakistan’s interior minister Mohsin Naqvi alleged that India was behind the coordinated assaults in the southwestern province.

The media wing of the Pakistani military asserted that the attacks were carried out by the BLA, which the army refers to as “Indian sponsored Fitna al Hindustan.”

External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal responded to the comments from the Pakistani side by saying: “We categorically reject the baseless allegations made by Pakistan, which are nothing but its usual tactics to deflect attention from its own internal failings.