Featured 10 soldiers martyred, 1militant killed and 3 apprehended when BLF attacked military check post in Balochistan's Kech district

[Menace2Society]

Build up Quetta, like actually develop into a big city and move everyone in Baluchistan there with a good relocation package and try to build a sister city.

 

[SaadH]

How can we solve water issues of a place like Balochistan with no water? We can't irrigate the whole area
I know dams can be built and irrigation can happen with couple billion $ but most areas of atleast centeral Balochistan may remain the same

And Don't think anyone from Punjab would even dare set foot in Balochistan forget moving... ID card killings
They don't hate Sindhis or Pashtun like that, maybe these groups should be encouraged to move?

24 million diverse karachites should be scattered all along the pakistani coastline forming small, big ports from Gawdar to Karachi connected by coastal highways and infra associated with it in an ideal world

But water is a critical issue to devalop coastline

There are plans to dig a second great canal system through Balochistan to both irrigate and provide flood runoff. Until that happens mass migration would be untenable.

And why would it be unethical, if those displaced from FATA can move to Karachi, in fact every ethnicity from all over Pakistan can freely move into Karachi, why can't the same be done in Balochistan?

 

[Maula Jatt]

There are plans to dig a second great canal system through Balochistan to both irrigate and provide flood runoff. Until that happens mass migration would be untenable.

And why would it be unethical, if those displaced from FATA can move to Karachi, in fact every ethnicity from all over Pakistan can freely move into Karachi, why can't the same be done in Balochistan?

I think a thread should be made on water issues of Balochistan especially a billion $ canal systems
This may not be the best thread

 

[Patriot forever]

There's no water in Balochistan and this whole thing sounds unethical

Balochistan is already Pashtun somewhat majority but I think they're mostly Afghan refugees and not migrants from KP
If you devalop coastline people from rest of the country especially Karachi will move and Pashtun belt is already there

but Centeral Balochistan will be there and will be even more angry looking at the demographic changes

Demographic change is foolish. Our majority of Baloch brothers are patriotic ( from my personal interactions with them) . I have been to gawadar many times, interacted with them.

If one wants to understand the problem one needs to study the classic case of karima baloch or Usman kakar etc. It will quickly identify the infiltration in our media social media some sections of our universities and political parties. Go back and see which characters supported and propagated them, one will reach the breeding grounds of these anti state elements.

If army is serious in defeating and winning this war, the snake head might be in Delhi but venom is produced locally.

 

[Great Janjua]

Isn't it my favourite TV Show releasing another banger from the Balochistan Chronicles. @Mentee tu vi kehna mein ethay ku ni avnda.... Hun das.

 

[KrimesKaster]

26th Jan is India's constitution day or something, right?

 

[TheSolution]

NWFP was the only and last province without an ethnic name associated with it
It changed and this change was supported by majority of pakistanis except for hindkos of KP

I don't think there's public support for provinces without ethnic name in Pak

There might not be public support, but I think there's a way you could still make it happen, without much public outrage and it could maybe be beneficial also.

Just give a good reason, like each province being too large to adequately manage and develop, so we will split them up into smaller sections of 2-3-4. And take some words from each province's language and history that don't pertain to any ethnicity, and use those. This way they may not be too opposed to the idea.

 

[kingQamaR]

Its a barren land, with a very small population and very hostile geography. Even though it has some natural resources, it would never be enough to help 'thrive' Baluchistan.

Baluchistan, first of all needs peace, and second of all, needs an industry, which can employ far more local people than what it currently has.

 

[Chacha_Facebooka]

Worked spectacularly well while we used it. Ever since we turned it over to the US, India and Northern Alliance's bacha baaz, we've seen the uptick in the mess being created in Pakistan.

The key to our security lies us in reclaiming that strategic depth.

I disagree. Backing proxy groups only worked against the soviets but then backfired after that. Afghanistan is still on fire. Afghans hate Pakistan more than ever. Kashmir cause is damaged. The groups that we backed ultimately betrayed us and the war came into our cities. You see success. I see failure.

 

[TigerOfMysore]

I have written extensively on this particular topic. Losses like these are a dereliction of duty and at this point inexcusable. Not that we are not going to take casualties. Unfortunately that is going to happen. The dereliction comes in the form of tactical failures. I could write a thesis on this. No PK army checkpost should be over run (such occurrences mean our tactics have not caught up to the enemies tactics). Speaks to poor setup pure and simple. Very disappointing.

I have actually seen such checkposts - not all are created the same way. Some are better than others and in large measure are left to the JCOs own ability with little oversight and supervision. They dont follow any consistent SOPs or basic construct design methods. Quite often they use materials of what is lying around. Such tactics can be accepted when in flux or in enemy territory. When within your own country it speaks to poor logisitcs. Bases like these should always be built in tandem in sister configurations (designed in a manner where mutual support is possible). Clearly insurgents are operating at max strength of 40-60 men. Anything more than that and they can become slower and fatter targets. This means if I was responsible for high risk areas I would only build checkposts in tandem and with a combined troop strength of atleast a platoon. I would always position a CO (commissioned officer) and JCO along-with the NCOs.

I would design checkposts with effective post protection such as trips, and barbed wires. I would recce area to understand potential ingress and I would setup early warning systems like simple shell trips. I would also have a small marksmen unit identified and on duty along with observation units in 2-4 hour rotations. My best JCO shooters would have ranged rifles. I would setup a double layer external wall with middle sand bags to stop inbound rockets. I would also setup slab protection areas for some cover from motors. I would have an NV unit for night observation. I would have a strong supply of flares to illuminate the night time, and if possible I would get a complement of dogs.

Additionally I would have strong comms with my basing units so I could use a QRF. The QRF in this terrain cannot be driven in. They would need to be helo'd, otherwise they will die. Unless they are coming in armor and that is not always going to be possible in this terrain. Ideally each checkpost should have some air cover. At the minimum for surveillance. Ideally some drone coverage given the limitation of attack helos.

Lastly I would teach tactics and build shooting nests. Some of these videos show our soldiers shooting tactics. There is tremendous bravery but they are spraying. Because they are caught, they are zeroed in they have no line of sight. Yet they spray aimlessly. In moments like these they need to compose themselves, find cover (primary), then attempt to identify line of sight. They need to coordinate with fellow soldiers and then return fire. Non of these basic tactics are visible. This means sooner of later they are going to die. It is a foregone conclusion.

Like I said we will take casualties, but basics are basics. Lets improve on these basics. Make it so painful for the enemy that they avoid these checkposts. Right now the balance is in their hands. And the enemy is highly trained.

 

[Sayfullah]

How can we solve water issues of a place like Balochistan with no water? We can't irrigate the whole area
I know dams can be built and irrigation can happen with couple billion $ but most areas of atleast centeral Balochistan may remain the same

And Don't think anyone from Punjab would even dare set foot in Balochistan forget moving... ID card killings
They don't hate Sindhis or Pashtun like that, maybe these groups should be encouraged to move?

24 million diverse karachites should be scattered all along the pakistani coastline forming small, big ports from Gawdar to Karachi connected by coastal highways and infra associated with it in an ideal world

But water is a critical issue to devalop coastline

Some water issues will exist but with good management and newer technologies we can fix that.
However I agree we should focus on developing our coast. Gwadar, Jiwani, Gaddani, Hub, Pasni, Ormara all should be developed into major coastal cities. Costal cities can have desalination plants for water if there’s a shortage. Saudis for Neom are making new types of desalination plants which make it super cheap to convert sea water into fresh water. We should look into this technology it could be a game changer for many of our costal cities.
Regarding ethnicity, make these costal cities ethnically diverse like Karachi however, unlike Karachi no neighbourhood of the city should have one ethnicity as a majority it should be as mixed as possible.
Northern Balochistan is Pashtun majority and anti Baloch separatist/terrorists. The problem is southern and some areas of central Balochistan. With developing costal cities we’ll eliminate terrorism from Southern Balochistan and it’ll only be some pockets of central Balochistan with terrorism left but these should be easy to deal with.
Regarding money, if we give free land or incentivize people moving to these costal cities they’ll play a major role in developing it them selves. We just need good policies and the people will do the rest.
But if we do go down this path it’s essential for us to break Balochistan down into 3 provinces. Northern Balochistan should be a separate province, Southern Balochistan a separate and Central Balochistan a separate.
Just by these steps we can permanently eliminate terrorism from northern and southern Balochistan and central Balochistan only has a few hotspots even right now so we can deal with those as well. This would be a long term permanent solution to the issue.

 

[Vapour]

You have personally suffered by this and you know exactly what must be done. Terrain is just as harsh to militants as it is to the LEAs. Instead, LEAs have a permanent advantage. The first lesson in COIN warfare is to swing the ambush option to your side. The militants should be the ones getting ambushed.

The holes in intelligence/surveilance coverage across the western border suggests whilst this is the ideal scenario, it's very optimistic without further investment in building up the capability to surveil the border regions.

 

[Amaa'n]

Reports are coming from Zahedan… someone dispatched to hell …. But there were two civilian casualties with him…. His niece and mother…..

Correction: son and wife dead while niece (a minor) is critically injured

 

[PanzerKiel]

Sir if you can please indulge laymen like us for a few more minutes, it will be really helpful to understand the complex situation. Based on your explanation above I have two questions if you can answer:

1) Does the local post Commander have the jurisdiction to call in Air support? Or does he needs to go through all the chain of command to request?

2) As you mentioned the nearest post is 30 Kms away and there are no roads or motorways to connect, on the contrary how long would have it taken for Army aviation Cobra's to reach the site? What about PAF?

1. No. He has to go through the chain.
2. There is no permanent deployment of cobras in Balochistan. When they are, they are normally stationed in Quetta or some other location on required basis.

 

[ARMalik]

First of all, let me disconnect everything.

Leave the COAS, ISPR out of this (am not defending them of course, but then once you start the blame game, why dont you take names of all who are down the chain till the POST COMMANDER himself, the man who was well-equipped, enough manpower to hold his post.....its not fair to blame the COAS only....).

As a commander, you only tell your subordinates the concept of how you intend operating. It is upto the junior leaders, at all levels, to implement that to the best of their personal abilities.

Another fact, the nearest base to this unfortunate post is more than 30 kms away. Second, they are not connected by any road, motorway or anything. Its not a normal drive whereby you can reach there in half an hour. It takes balls that you are ready to stretch your outfit over such a vast area just because situation demands, logic doesnt demands.

Now if someone says that we should pour in more army troops, do please do simple math regarding deployments, let me know if you find any brigade or division freely available, doing nothing......if you find any, let me know.

As i highlighted before as well, troops to space ration is very unfavorable to us in Balochistan. FATA was a small area, we pumped in half of our army there and then achieved the desired results. Even then it took such a long time. Still we need to keep some chunk of our army there to retain what we got.

Balochistan, well its 44 % of our country's land mass.....imagine....almost half of total Pakistan....its true that militants number hardly hundreds, but looking for them in such a vast area is very difficult. Same goes for our deployments as well, since we are stretched too thin, so we have to make a hard choice of prioritising our assets.....we first secure our high value assets......

I am not into politics, so i will and cannot talk about PM etc....am simply not qualified for that.....however, regarding COAS.....well, all bastards getting hit across borders are being hit on his orders too.....there we dont give him credit.....and again, mind you, they are not even half of what is being done.

I told you before as well......we need to realize that we are at war.....for more than two decades.....and its not over, it will continue....its simply the new form of warfare where we are all alone....we will prevail InshaAllah, but not without casualties....thats the cost of freedom and victory.

No other country is physically helping us....and then we have the case of US, who supported by all her allies and latest equipment, could not prevail in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Learn to take casualties, war means casualties....the other side is also here to fight, time will tell who wins, but not without casualties.

Excellent post.

My only questions are what the hell are those Drones doing? Where are the armoured vehicles? The Armour vehicles are cheaply available, and has been discussed to death here as to why these soldiers need armour protection. Where is body armour for the soldiers?? Seriously, we can come up with better strategies in this vast area. But this COAS and his subordinates are have done some seriously bad jobs resulting in unnecessary deaths of dozens and dozens of our soldiers.

If the area commander has to go through the Chain for all this, then FRANKLY THE CHAIN IS BROKEN !!!