ISLAMABAD: Five laborers from Punjab were martyred after terrorists opened fire at a barber shop in the Mashkel Bazaar area of Washuk district in southwestern Balochistan province, on Sunday, prompting security forces to launch a search operation as Pakistan's civilian leadership strongly condemned the attack and vowed to bring those responsible to justice.
According to security sources, terrorists belonging to what Pakistan officially refers to as Fitna al-Hindustan targeted innocent and unarmed laborers, killing five people.
The martyred victims were identified as Muhammad Hassan and Muhammad Qadeer, both barbers from Pasrur, Sialkot; Mohsin from Narowal; and Muhammad Bilal and Bilal, residents of Khanpur, Rahim Yar Khan. The sources said all five victims belonged to Punjab.
Security forces cordoned off the area immediately after the attack and launched a search operation to trace the attackers, according to the sources.
Pakistani authorities officially use the term Fitna al Hindustan to refer to the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which Islamabad says receives external backing to carry out attacks aimed at destabilizing the country.
In a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the killing of five innocent laborers by terrorists belonging to Fitna al-Hindustan.
"Targeting innocent and unarmed laborers is an extremely barbaric and cowardly act," the prime minister said.
"The elements involved in such heinous crimes against humanity deserve no leniency."
PM Sharif said terrorists were targeting innocent civilians in pursuit of their "nefarious objectives," but added that such attacks would not weaken Pakistan's resolve to eliminate terrorism.
"The government and the security forces remain fully committed to eradicating terrorism from the country and ensuring the protection of every citizen's life and property," he said.
President Asif Ali Zardari also condemned the attack, describing the targeting of innocent civilians and working people as "open barbarity."
"Such cowardly attacks cannot shake the resolve of the nation. The terrorists of Fitna al Hindustan and their facilitators will be brought to justice," the president said.
He added that the state would continue taking every possible measure to protect the lives and property of its citizens.
In a statement posted on X, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti rejected attempts to portray the attack through an ethnic lens.
"It was not Baloch targeting Punjabis; terrorists targeted Pakistanis," Bugti said.
He described the attack as "an assault on Pakistan's unity and national cohesion," adding that the state would bring every terrorist and their facilitators to justice.
"Pakistan has never bowed before terrorism, and it never will," he said.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack and reiterated that security operations against terrorist groups would continue.
"The nation stands shoulder to shoulder with its brave security forces and remains determined to eliminate terrorism completely," Naqvi said.
He added that operations against terrorists were continuing with full force and would continue until the threat was eliminated.
Separately, Energy Minister Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari described the killing of innocent workers as "a heinous crime against humanity and national values," while Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry called the attack "a heinous and cowardly crime against humanity."
Communications Minister Abdul Aleem Khan said the killing of unarmed laborers was "an attack on Pakistan's peace and development," adding that the nation stood united with its security forces in the fight against terrorism.
