Islamabad, Feb 2: At least ten bomb and grenade explosions rocked Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province on Thursday, killing one person as authorities fought to maintain calm ahead of next week’s parliamentary elections. Six people, including a police officer and a jail warden, were hurt in the attacks, which targeted several police stations and deputy commissioners’ offices, according to the Dawn daily. Voting in Pakistan is scheduled for February 8. The senior source told the newspaper, “At least 10 bomb and grenade attacks happened across Balochistan, including the provincial capital Quetta.”According to Quetta SSP (operations) Jawad Tariq, a device planted along a walkway on the China-Pakistan Economic Cooperation (CPEC) route in the Spinny neighbourhood of Quetta detonated, killing a bystander. Officials said that the blast’s strength shook various parts of the province capital. After erecting a perimeter, the police took the body to Civil Hospital. According to hospital officials, the victim’s body was mangled because of his close proximity to the explosives during the explosion. An 84-year-old man was recognised as the deceased.SSP Tariq further mentioned that the improvised bomb device included about 8 kg of explosive. The SSP stated that security was already on high alert because of the impending elections and that the bomb’s target was unknown because no election campaign-related event was scheduled in the area. Another attack happened close to the outskirts of Quetta, injuring assistant sub-inspector Ghulam Raza. A hand grenade that was thrown at the Shalkot police station by unknown attackers detonated in the courtyard. The building of the station as well as a few cars in the parking lot were harmed in the attack. The police officer who sustained injuries was admitted to the Civil Hospital.Hand grenades were used to target Mastung’s central prison. The explosives detonated inside the jail, causing structural damage. The attack left the jail warden hurt. Grenades were aimed at the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), National Party, and a joint office of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) and Balochistan National Party Mengal (BNP-M) during the attacks in Quetta, Khuzdar, and Turbat. But no fatalities were reported.Hand grenades were also used to target the deputy commissioner offices in Panjgur and Dhadar. Another grenade strike on the deputy commissioner of Kachhi’s house resulted in one casualty. A grenade was thrown at police and Frontier Corps (FC) stations in the Turbat market area, injuring one person, but no casualties were reported, according to the Dawn report. The strikes occurred during a high-level conference that the Pakistani Election Commission had on Thursday to examine the security situation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Sikandar Sultan Raja, the chief electoral commissioner, assured the gathering that elections will take place on schedule.We’ll hold the election on February 8th on schedule. In his presentation to the gathering, Raja stated, “The ECP is fully prepared despite security challenges.” He went on to say that law enforcement, including the army, would assist in tackling those attempting to cause disruption. “There will be no leniency shown to anyone in this regard,” he declared. Raja voiced alarm about the shaky law and order in the two provinces, citing attacks on political parties and the ECP office in particular. He did, however, declare that these attacks would not have any impact on the voting process.
