QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri announced on Thursday that the mastermind of the Civil Hospital suicide bombing and the terrorist attack on the Quetta Police Training College (PTC) had been arrested.

“We are chasing terrorists and their facilitators and have arrested the mastermind of terrorism and several of his facilitators who were behind these attacks,” the chief minister said while speaking at an award-distribution ceremony of Kyokushin Karate here.

He said that earlier terrorists used to attack security forces with impunity, but now the situation had changed and now security forces were chasing them without fear and terrorists were now hiding, adding that soon they would be either arrested or killed.

Nawab Zehri said that a few years ago teachers were being killed by terrorists and the law and order situation forced shopkeepers to shut their shops early on in the evening.

“Terrorists attacked my convoy and killed my son, brother and other loved ones in 2013, but they failed to weaken my resolve to fight them,” the chief minister said.

“I will continue my fight against terrorism until complete peace is restored,” Nawab Zehri said.

He said the environment of fear was over and now Pakistani flags were fluttering on every school and government buildings of the province.

He said the government had set up a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to investigate the PTC Quetta carnage.

The chief minister said that he had the vision of a peaceful and educated Balochistan.

“My vision is to turn Balochistan into a peaceful, educated and economically thriving province of the country,” Nawab Zehri said.

He announced construction of the Sikandar Shaheed Complex on Prince Road besides giving Rs100,000 for schoolchildren who had participated in Kyokushin Karate programme.

Deputy opposition leader Zamarak Khan Piralizai and Wasilla Foundation chairman Muhammad Omer Achakzai also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2016