QUETTA: The government in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Thursday called for an impartial inquiry into an attack by armed fighters from the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) group on a remote town in the country’s southwest before security forces regained control of it. 
The attack in Zehri, located 150 kilometers from Khuzdar city, occurred when BLA fighters stormed the Levies force station on Wednesday and the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) office, setting the buildings ablaze and robbing a private bank.
Khuzdar deputy commissioner told Arab News that security forces retaliated in a timely manner and regained control of the area. One soldier of the Frontier Corps was injured during the standoff as the armed men escaped. 
Shahid Rind, the spokesperson for the provincial government, said strict action would be taken against the district administration members found guilty of negligence during the attack and did not retaliate in a timely manner.
“Balochistan government has called for an impartial inquiry into the Zehri attack from all aspects,” Rind said in a statement, adding that the provincial home department had issued instructions to engage the civil administration in this regard. 

Rind said law enforcement agencies are monitoring the situation in Zehri while the government has strengthened security arrangements in the entire province.
“The government has been taking concrete measures to uplift the performance of the civil administrations in the entire Balochistan to prevent attacks like Zehri in the future,” the spokesperson said. 
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest and resource-rich province, has long been plagued by a low-level insurgency led by ethnic Baloch separatist groups like the BLA. They accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources, such as gold and copper, while neglecting the local population.
Pakistan rejects these allegations, asserting that the federal government has prioritized Balochistan’s development by investing in health, education and infrastructure projects.
The BLA has become a significant security threat in recent years, carrying out major attacks in Balochistan and Sindh provinces targeting security forces, ethnic Punjabis and Chinese nationals working on development projects.
Violence by Baloch separatist factions, primarily the BLA, killed about 300 people over the past year, marking an escalation in the decades-long conflict.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s central bank chief said on Thursday that the country will experience fluctuations in inflation in the next four to five months before it stabilizes within the five to seven percent range toward the end of the year. 
Pakistan’s consumer inflation rate slowed to 4.1 percent year-on-year in December 2024. The reductions came at the back of the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) move to cut the key policy rate by 200 basis points to 13 percent in December, the fifth straight reduction since June, bringing cumulative rate cuts for 2024 to 900 basis points.
The reduction in the inflation rate has brought some relief for the masses, which bore the brunt of record high inflation which peaked at 38 percent in May 2023, as Pakistan faced a prolonged economic crisis. 
“At the moment it [inflation] has decreased a lot and in the month of January, it will come down a bit further but will then witness fluctuation later,” SBP Governor Dr. Jameel Ahmed said at a news conference. 
“But as per our [central bank’s] assessment by the end of 2025, it will stabilize within the target range of five to seven percent, according to the medium-term target by the state bank and the government of Pakistan,” he added. 
Ahmed said a collective effort to achieve the medium-term target of five to seven percent will bring relief to Pakistani businesses and the common man.
“But god forbid if there is any volatility in this which we are unable to control then we have seen the disruptions caused to businesses and even the common man in the past,” he said.
The South Asian country is navigating a challenging economic recovery path buttressed by a $7 billion facility from the International Monetary Fund granted in September. 
Pakistan’s finance minister has lauded the government’s fiscal measures but warned that the country needs long-term financial reforms to ensure sustainable growth and avoid future IMF bailout programs.