New Delhi, Oct 8 (IANS): The Pakistan security establishment has issued an urgent directive recalling retired army personnel for re-enlistment to combat severe manpower shortages caused by heavy casualties and desertions in the conflict-ridden regions of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
The Inspector General of Frontier Corps, Balochistan (North), in an official communication, has asked the retired soldiers to immediately report and get re-enlisted immediately.
An official said that this communication indicates two things. Firstly, the Pakistani Army is facing an acute manpower shortage due to the heavy casualties inflicted by groups such as the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the official said.
“The other reason for such communication could be that the Pakistan Army is preparing to intensify operations in these regions. Groups such as the BLA and BLF have significantly upgraded their capabilities and have also introduced women suicide units, which have already carried out successful attacks against security forces,” the official said.
Pakistan has set an October 30 deadline for the return of the ex-army personnel.
Pakistan observers say that the establishment has become desperate. Although it may try and project that it is looking to intensify operations to finish the problem, in reality, there is a massive manpower shortage.
In September alone, these separatist groups have carried out 94 attacks against the security forces. The BLA claimed that in these attacks, it has managed to kill 105 personnel of the Pakistani security forces.
“This indicates that there are huge losses that the establishment has suffered, as a result of which their manpower is down,” the experts say.
While the communication does specify a deadline of October 30, it does not make it compulsory for the retired army personnel to return. Further, there is also no fixed age that the communication indicates for those who want to return. The perk for those wishing to return would be that they would be paid salaries that correspond to their completed years of service.
Another official said that Pakistan has been increasingly turning to its retired personnel in recent years. Many have been roped in to fight alongside the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
“The reasoning behind this is that these retired personnel are already battle-hardened and could commence operations immediately as they would hardly need any sort of training,” the official said.
Prior to focusing on the KP region, Pakistan would look to address the situation in Balochistan first. The BLA has specifically targeted checkpoints and military convoys, with such attacks resulting in ambushes that have inflicted significant casualties on security forces.
While the loss of manpower due to attacks by these groups is one reason for bringing back retired personnel, another is the growing number of desertions. Several personnel have either quit or gone missing, fearing they could be killed.
“Their morale is low, and they no longer want to fight, prompting them to leave the service,” the official said.
In Balochistan and KP, the situation is so bad that in several areas, the BLA, BLF and TTP are in complete control. The fact that a majority of the locals support them has only boosted their human intelligence. This also means that the security forces are not being fed with information by the locals, and this is why the casualty rate is high.
The BLA and BLF have inflicted significant damage on the Pakistani security forces at Mastung, Nushki, Khan, Tech, Washuk and Panjur areas.
The retired personnel, depending on how many are willing to return, would be deployed in these areas as they are considered strongholds of the BLA, an official said.
