New Delhi: Pakistan is rapidly moving its troops out of Balochistan and adjoining areas and redeploying them along the line of control (LoC), sources in Pakistan and Afghanistan confirmed to MyNation.

According to information received from the province’s capital Quetta, and districts of North Waziristan and Khyber (the erstwhile Khyber Agency), in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, the Pakistani military has vacated a number of check points and the local force, called ‘Khasdar’, has been deployed.

Sources in Balochistan told MyNation that the Pakistani army had forcefully marshalled passenger buses plying from Karachi to Quetta and between Turbat — the second largest city of the province — and Karachi for transporting soldiers from Balochistan to the LoC.

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Over 100 trucks were also forcefully commandeered in Quetta by the Pakistan Army to move military personnel and equipment to the LoC. A transport company has provided the Pakistan Army more than 30 passenger buses for shifting army personnel from Balochistan to the LoC. Sources told MyNation that a military curfew was imposed in the vicinity of Quetta on Thursday night and military movement had been noted.

Sources added that Baloch freedom fighters were making the most of the situation by attacking and ambushing Pakistani army personnel and also Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) assets and operatives. “The Baloch fighters are taking, on an average, 20-25 Pakistani soldiers captive everyday. The sentiment is that the right time had come to use Pakistan’s vulnerable position and press for freedom,” a source in Balochistan said.

Sources said that Pakistan had shifted its personnel to safe hideouts in Balochistan.

Pakistan has also been shifting its air force personnel to safe hideouts in Quetta. Sources also revealed that the hostile neighbour intended to fight a ground-based infantry war with India, fully using its “war proxies and tools”.

A large number of check points in the Khyber district have been vacated by the army. However, the check points still exist in the main forts.

A central leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), though, said that the Pakistan Army would never fully vacate the now defunct Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Balochistan.

Meanwhile, according to latest information from across the border, the Pakistani army had gathered its personnel in Nowshera and from there, moving the personnel towards the LoC.

The Pakistan Army has also vacated Malakand and Mohmand districts, apart from Khyber.

Army movement has also been noted from Jani Khel in Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and also from the North Waziristan district. In Bannu too, the Pakistan Army forcefully commandeered trucks for shifting personnel.