QUETTA, Pakistan, May 11 (UPI) -- Since December, Pakistan has deployed 40,000 troops to Balochistan province to quell rising violence.
Balochistan Governor Awais Ahmed Ghani asserts that only three chieftains are creating unrest in the province.
Geo News reported on May 10 that Ghani told journalists in the provincial capital Quetta that the chieftains are spending $8.3 million annually on terrorism and sabotage and receive foreign funding.
Ghani asserted that local Bloch tribal chief Nawab Akbar Bugti was in Pakistan and hiding out in the mountains.
Establishing a link between the disturbances in Balochistan and the violence-prone North West Frontier Province and Afghanistan, Ghani said that arms were smuggled into Balochistan from Kandahar and Wana for the insurgents.
Authorities in Islamabad have attempted to cool the tensions by granting a general amnesty to those involved in terrorism and sabotage willing to lay down their arms. The government intends to initiate talks when the three chieftains abandon violence and terrorism.
