ISLAMABAD: BLA does not truly represent Balochistan; instead, it leverages the region’s struggles for its own agenda, , Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri.
Originating from Balochistan, my political journey is deeply connected to its rugged terrains and the indomitable spirit of its people. I’ve spent time with mothers searching for their missing sons, and families mourning children who were drawn into and ruined by organizations exploiting Balochi struggles for their chaotic agendas. The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) professes to advocate for Baloch rights but actually betrays them. As a senator, I’ve repeatedly criticized this group in the Pakistani Senate, driven by the profound suffering it inflicts on my community.
In my role as both a senator and a Baloch woman, I am committed to shielding my community from terror groups whose leaders live safely abroad, sending young Baloch men and women to partake in conflicts they barely comprehend. It is crucial for the international community to place both the BLA and its infamous suicide unit, the Majeed Brigade, under the UN Security Council’s 1267 sanctions regime. Despite Pakistan and China’s advocacy without fulfilling some technical criteria, these decisions must be viewed within broader geopolitical contexts.
The BLA does not represent Balochistan; it exploits the province’s challenges. As Pakistan’s largest and least developed region, Balochistan experiences a poverty rate exceeding seventy percent, creating fertile ground for recruitment. This is not merely opportunistic; it is a deliberate tactic to exploit deprivation. Recruiters use nationalistic themes, enticing youths aged fifteen to twenty-five through encrypted channels and persuasive propaganda. They glorify violence, alienate recruits from family ties, and indoctrinate teenagers into a cycle of forced aggression. Many young recruits in the Majeed Brigade are deceived into seeing themselves as freedom fighters when they are merely tools used by leaders indifferent to the hardships they promote.
Every government is alarmed by the scale of violence. Reports from the South Asia Terrorism Portal highlight that insurgent groups launched 938 attacks in Balochistan in 2024 an increase of fifty-three percent compared to 2023 resulting in over a thousand fatalities. The BLA claimed responsibility for 302 of these attacks, causing more than 580 deaths. In March 2025, they hijacked the Jaffar Express, resulting in at least thirty-one deaths and holding over three hundred passengers captive. The Majeed Brigade carried out six major suicide missions in a single year using a decentralized network resistant to conventional counterterrorism strategies. These figures do not suggest a movement fueled by legitimate grievances but rather reveal a terror operation.
The BLA poses a regional threat supported by external elements, as evidenced by incidents like that of Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian officer arrested in Balochistan in 2016 who confessed to supporting Baloch militants for Indian intelligence. Their increasing ties with groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan dispute claims that the BLA is merely a local separatist faction without international terror links.
Young Baloch individuals are neither the strategists nor executors of this violence; they are methodically radicalized and manipulated by leaders who remain out of danger.
Countries including the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia have included the BLA and the Majeed Brigade in their counterterrorism strategies. The US notably designated them as Foreign Terrorist Organizations in August 2025 due to direct threats against American interests. These threats are real; Balochistan’s vast reserves of copper, gold, and rare earth minerals are significant for Washington. A stronger BLA, unrestrained by any UN designation, risks American investments and strategic aims in the region. The inconsistency between US domestic policy and its UN stance needs addressing—a moral dilemma faced by London too.
The threat to regional connectivity is significant. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor represents billions in potential infrastructure investment for Balochistan; however, it’s a stated target for the BLA, showing this conflict extends beyond just Pakistan-China relations.
The writer is a senator
