School girl prepared for suicide bombing in Karachi rescued: Zia Lanjar

KARACHI: A Baloch girl, who was brought for suicide bombing in Karachi, has been taken into custody, announced Sindh Home Minister Zia Lanjar while addressing a presser on Monday.

Lanjar addressing the presser along with the Sindh police and other officials, said security forces saved a girl from becoming a suicide bomber on the banned outfit BLA and BLF’s propaganda.

Detailing the action, Lanjar said, they contacted the girl via social media and managed to reach her out and prevented Karachi from a major tragedy.

Lanjar warned that proscribed organisations BLA and BLF are increasingly using women and underage girls as tools of violence.

He said that even young girls are now being pushed towards death, stressing that this is not resistance of any kind but the exploitation of children and an act of terrorism.

According to the minister, criminal and anti-state elements deliberately indoctrinate teenage boys and girls, manipulating their minds through propaganda. He stated that a young girl from Balochistan was targeted and radicalised by anti-state actors who established contact with her via social media.

He further said that the identity of the affected girl is being kept completely confidential, adding that the state is the guarantor of her dignity, protection and future.

“I was groomed through hate content”

The affected girl said that she was first exposed to hateful content on social media, which was then repeatedly shown to her until it began to feel normal.

She explained that communication gradually increased and she started receiving links and speeches. Over time, she said, the false narrative began to feel real.

According to the girl, once the person contacting her realised that her father was not present, he exploited this fact under the guise of sympathy and drew her further into the trap.

She stated that in WhatsApp groups, activities of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) were portrayed as acts of bravery, which she later understood to be deliberate deception.

The girl said her education began to suffer and she was slowly conditioned to believe that sacrificing one’s life was the ultimate purpose.

She added that she made excuses to leave home, but only now has she realised the destruction she was heading towards. She recalled becoming extremely anxious when questioned at a security checkpoint.

“I am Baloch, and our traditions teach respect and dignity for women,” she said. She stressed that sacrificing women and girls is not Baloch culture.

The girl warned that those who recruit individuals into groups in the name of ‘sacrifice’ are not helpers but predators.