The rise of the Baloch Liberation Army in Pakistan

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has been waging an insurgency against the Pakistani state for over twenty years, mostly carrying out small-scale attacks on government troops.

But that changed last week when the militant separatist group claimed responsibility for major coordinated attacks in the vast and impoverished southwestern province of Balochistan that killed more than 70 people.

The bombings and shootings on August 25 and 26 were the deadliest in years in Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran and is home to Pakistan's Baloch ethnic minority.

Experts say the attacks underscore the growing strength of the BLA, which is recruiting more members and gaining access to modern weapons. The group, which is designated as a terrorist group by the United States, has also used more lethal tactics such as suicide bombings in recent years.

“These attacks were unprecedented and mark a new escalation of tensions in Balochistan,” said Kiyya Baloch, a Pakistani journalist and commentator who follows the militant insurgency in the region. “They show the BLA's determination to demonstrate its growing strength.”

Demonstrate dominance

In an operation that began late in the evening of August 25, BLA fighters bombed a railway bridge connecting the province to the rest of Pakistan, attacked police and military posts, and attacked buses and trucks on a major highway.

In the deadliest attack, BLA militants stopped a bus and shot dead 23 of its passengers, many of them from Punjab, Pakistan's most populous and prosperous province.

The coordinated attacks coincided with the death anniversary of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti, who was killed by Pakistani security forces in 2006.

Railway officials inspect the remains of a collapsed railway bridge the morning after an explosion by separatist militants in Kolpur in Bolan district of Balochistan province on August 27.

Aziz Baloch, an independent security expert in Balochistan, said the BLA was keen to “demonstrate that it [Pakistani] Army” and established itself as the “dominant militant group” in the province.

Balochistan has been the scene of small uprisings and brutal crackdowns by the army for decades.

The BLA and other Baloch separatist groups seek independence from Pakistan, which they accuse of exploiting Balochistan's enormous natural resources and committing serious human rights violations in the region.

The BLA is considered the largest armed group operating in Balochistan. Experts estimate that the BLA has several thousand members.

Researchers have a strong increase The number of attacks carried out by Baloch groups has increased this year.

Better weapons, deadlier tactics

According to experts, the BLA has become a better organized and increasingly more effective force.

Pakistani militant groups, including the BLA, are said to have attacked American Weapons and military equipmentWhen U.S. and international forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, they left behind billions of dollars worth of military equipment and weapons, which were then seized by the Taliban after they took power.

“The acquisition of modern weapons has improved the BLA’s fighting capabilities,” said journalist and commentator Baloch.

Baloch added that the BLA, a secular group, has also adopted more lethal tactics used by militant Islamist groups such as the Afghan Taliban and the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban.

These include suicide attacks, the use of explosive devices (improvised explosive devices, IEDs) and so-called complex attacks with multiple attackers and IEDs installed in vehicles.

The Majeed Brigade, the BLA's suicide squad, is said to have carried out most of the group's complex attacks.

In 2022, a 31-year-old mother the first woman to carry out a suicide attack for the BLA. This move was seen by some observers as a “paradigm shift”.

Exploiting the anger of the locals

According to experts, local factors have also strengthened the BLA.

Baloch, the security expert in Balochistan, said the BLA has been successful in recruiting young Balochs. About 65 percent of Balochistan's 15 million people are under 30 years old.

Pakistani soldiers inspect a collapsed railway line in Kolpur, Bolan district, Balochistan province, on August 27, a day after an explosion by separatist BLA militants.

“They have a large workforce and attract women. [recruits]he said.

Journalist and commentator Baloch said poverty, high unemployment, alleged abuse of power by the authorities and political repression had made Balochistan “fertile ground for the BLA to attract and recruit more young people”.

Many of the BLA’s leaders and fighters are former trained professionals and university students.

Observers say Pakistan has used brute force to suppress several Baloch insurgencies and ignored long-standing grievances of the Baloch ethnic minority.

“The BLA is a reflection of the state’s failure to manage and govern Balochistan,” said security expert Baloch.

Abdul Malik Baloch, a politician and former chief minister of Balochistan, said many Baloch people were becoming increasingly disillusioned with what they saw as Islamabad's political interference in the province.

Baloch said the rigged elections in Balochistan, aimed at strengthening pro-Islamabad, had disappointed those who believed in “peaceful politics”.

“Political activists tell me democracy here is a fraud,” he said. “They think we are wasting their time.”

Abdul Malik Baloch, leader of the secular National Party, was one of several prominent Baloch leaders who lost their seats in the February parliamentary elections, but the lawmaker remains a member of the provincial assembly.

Opposition members accused the powerful Pakistani military, which plays an outsized role in the country's domestic and foreign policies, of electoral fraud.

“Disappointment is driving people into the arms of the insurgents,” said Baloch, the former prime minister.

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Republished with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Washington DC 20036