BLA uses honey traps to recruit young girls for terrorist activities, says DG ISPR

ISLAMABAD: Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry on Friday said that the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) uses honey traps to recruit young girls for terrorist activities in Balochistan.

Addressing a press conference on the country’s security situation, particularly in Balochistan, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said security forces carried out 40,348 operations during the year.

The DG ISPR revealed that terrorists groups in Balochistan kidnapped, coerced and blackmailed young girls into carrying out terrorist activities, including suicide bombings.

He said that security forces had rescued several girls during counterterrorism operations, exposing the terroists’ recruitment methods.

According to the DG ISPR, women were recruited into the banned BLA through “honey traps”۔

He added that Indian media portrayed women terrorists killed in security operations as heroes, glorifying terrorism.

Some Balochistan sardars are prime movers of terrorism

DG ISPR Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said the root cause of Balochistan’s problems was the “elitism and sardari system,” which, sought to preserve a status quo dating back to before 1947.

He said that the system was designed to keep poor people deprived of education and opportunities so they would remain dependent on the traditional elite.

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“This status quo is that the poor man’s child should not study and should remain their servant, working as their guard or driver,” he said.

He further said that those benefiting from the existing system wanted poor people to do only what they were told, instead of being empowered through education and development.

Referring to a section of Balochistan’s tribal leadership, DG ISPR Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said he was not referring to all sardars but said that many sardars believed they had rights without corresponding obligations.

He said that these sardars were among the principal drivers of terrorism because they feared losing the status quo as the province changed.