QUETTA: Six agents of the Afghan intelligence agency National Directorate of Security (NDS), involved in targeted killings and bomb blasts in different parts of Balochistan, have been arrested, said Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti on Thursday.

Speaking at a press conference, the minister had some harsh words for the Afghan refugees who he said had been found involved in creating unrest in Balochistan.

“We want immediate repatriation of Afghan refugees. If Afghan refugees are not repatriated, the day will come when the people of Balochistan, both Baloch and Pakhtun, will push them back themselves,” he said.

Giving details of the six NDS agents, the Balochistan home minister said five of them were Afghan nationals, while one was Pakistani. All the six agents were on the payroll of the NDS and stayed at different refugee camps, he said.

If Afghan refugees don’t return, the day will come when people will push them back themselves: Bugti

He identified five of them as Mehboob, Asmatullah, Abdullah Shah, Ahmedullah and Noor Ahmed Nourzai, residents of Kandahar and Helmand provinces of Afghanistan. Another agent, who belonged to Pishin district of Balochistan, was identified as Mohammad Shafi.

Mr Bugti said two agents had been carrying out bomb blasts and other subversive activities in the province, while four were involved in targeted killings.

“They have killed at least 40 innocent Pakistanis in Quetta and other areas, including Chaman and Pishin,” he added.

When the agents had been shown videos of their crimes, they confessed that they worked for the NDS that had been paying them handsome amount.

“We were taken to Kandahar and Kabul by NDS officials where we met senior officials of the intelligence agency, including Gen Malik, Gen Momin and Gen Naeem Baloch who persuaded us to conduct bomb blasts and targeted killings,” said Asmatullah in his video statement.

“NDS officials paid us Rs15 million in Kabul. We had been receiving Rs250,000 a month and Rs80,000 per targeted killing,” Noor Ahmed Nourzai was seen as saying in a video.

The media was told that the arrested agents had acquired Pakistani national identity cards after paying Rs30,000 to Rs40,000 to officials of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra).

The agents also admitted that they had obtained training in Afghanistan for carrying out subversive activities in Balochistan.

The home minister said the Indian spying agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the Afghan intelligence agency NDS had been making attempts to foment unrest in Balochistan and destabilise Pakistan through their agents living in Afghan refugees camps, but “our security forces have foiled their nefarious designs”.

He recalled that the Afghan army officer, Roozi Khan, who belonged to Helmand province and whose family was living in Kuchlak, had also been arrested in Chaman.

He said Pakistan should send Afghan refugees back to their country to ensure peace in Balochistan and urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and international community to extend cooperation in their repatriation.

“Afghan refugees should go back as we cannot keep them as our guest any more,” Mr Bugti said. Further delay would force the people of Balochistan to push refugees back to their country forcibly, he added.

The minister said the government would not allow any foreigner to acquire a Pakistani national identity card.

The Nadra authorities in Balochistan had blocked thousands of fake identity cards and started an investigation, he said.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2016