Balochistan President Lashkari Raisani has said that "foreign hands" were involved in the activities causing unrest in the region. "Some foreign elements are involved in a major conspiracy against Pakistan, the recent spate of target killings is also part of that conspiracy, therefore, the responsibilities of government have increased manifold," The Daily Times quoted Raisani, as saying.

He further highlighted that the government was taking serious measures to maintain peace, and said that it was not easy to root out crimes overnight.

"The Balochistan Levies has been revived in many Tribal Areas where law and order situation has improved considerably. It will take time to completely normalise the situation in Quetta and some other parts of the province," Raisani said.

"We have promoted community policing to cut down the chain of culprits. The outcome has been good enough and the Balochistan Levies have successfully busted several gangs of criminals who were involved in highways robberies, hold ups and abductions for ransom," he added.

Six year old Rabia is the latest casualty which has shocked Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, where target killings, road side bomb blasts, land mine explosions, attacks on police check posts, trains, gas pipelines and electricity lines have become a routine affair now.

Rabia, the daughter of a retired school teacher of Punjabi origin, was playing inside her house in Moosa Colony at Sariab Road when unidentified men threw a hand grenade in the house and killed her on the spot, leaving three others wounded.

Quetta's Sariab road is one of city's crowded areas where Punjabi population dominates the locals and the insurgents are active with target killing to eliminate key Punjabi population.

Punjabi teachers, doctors, engineers, religious leaders and security forces' persons are the main targets, who are being killed in direct firing, bomb blasts and hand grenade attacks everyday.

Besides, Sariab road area, Quetta's busy Sirki road, Jinnah town, Smungli town, and Baruri town are the areas where forces are getting tough time.

The Pakistan Army has deployed its heavy contingent all over the province, but the districts of Khuzdar, Naushki, Kallat, Turbat, Dera Bugti, Kholu, Sui and Hub are still very difficult to control.

"The insurgency is still on the rise. This is spreading very rapidly and as you can't even count the number of attacks and casualties. They are killing at least one person in target killing every day apart from frequent bombings. The number of these incidents is continuously rising," said Chaudary Muhammad Yaqoob, former Inspector General Balochistan Police.

"It is inefficiency of our forces and intelligence agencies that they are unable to control the target killing and grenade attacks by the insurgents. We need to counter this technically and politically as soon as possible, otherwise situation will be out of our control very soon," he added.

Yaqoob said that mainly four groups Baloch Republic Army, Baloch Liberation Army, Balochistan Liberation Front and Baloch Liberation United Front are active in the area which have established close links with the criminals and the Taliban who are busy in anti Pakistan activities in Southern Punjab and Wazirstan areas. They coordinate with them for the actions like target killing, grenade attacks and land mine blasts. (ANI)