Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed the government’s pledge to eradicate terrorism after seven Punjab-bound passengers were offloaded from a bus and shot dead in Barkhan district last night.
Pakistan has recently witnessed an uptick in terror activities, especially in KP and Balochistan. Terror attacks have increased since the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke a fragile ceasefire agreement with the government in 2022.
The premier’s remarks follow last night’s incident when armed men “offloaded seven passengers from a coach after checking their identity cards and killed them”, according to Barkhan Deputy Commissioner (DC) Waqar Khurshid Alam.
In a statement today, PM Shehbaz asserted, “Those who harm innocent and defenceless people will have to pay a very heavy price.”The prime minister reaffirmed the commitment to completely eliminate terrorism from the country, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.
Expressing grief over the killing of the bus passengers, he conveyed his sympathies to the bereaved families and prayed for the departed souls.PM Shehbaz directed that the perpetrators be brought to justice at the earliest, the report added. “The sacrifices of innocent civilians will never go in vain.”
DC Alam had said, “All seven who were travelling in the coach belonged to Punjab, and were on their way to Lahore.”After disembarking them from the coach, the gunmen opened fire, killing them on the spot, he said, adding that the attackers managed to escape.
The Barkhan DC also said security forces had cordoned off the area after the incident. The bodies of the seven slain men were later shifted to the district headquarters hospital.No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Safaraz Bugti also vowed the government’s “concrete response” to terrorism and condemned the “brutal killing of seven innocent passengers”.“The cowardly attack by enemies of peace is intolerable and a concrete response will be given,” CM Bugti vowed.
Noting that terrorists were “targeting innocent and defenceless people”, he said: “We will service justice to terrorists who have martyred Pakistanis.”In a separate statement, Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind said security forces, including Frontier Corps and levies personnel, had reached the site of the incident.
