AMIDST the rapidly evolving geopolitical dynamics of the Middle East and South Asia, Balochistan has once again emerged as a critical flashpoint, underscoring the urgent need for a comprehensive and integrated counterterrorism policy.
Recent reports indicating Israel’s growing involvement and alleged support for the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) have only deepened Pakistan’s national security concerns, demanding immediate and strategic responses from the state. Balochistan, the largest province of Pakistan, has long been mired in decades of insurgency, compounded by so-called separatist ambitions and has become a playground for anti-state forces. Once a land of hope, progress and economic vitality under the flagship CPEC project, the province has descended into turmoil due to insurgents and separatist unrest—posing a serious threat to national security, the armed forces and policymakers of Pakistan.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the insurgent group that is widely acclaimed within the nation as striving for the rights of Baloch people have been actively involved in conducting large scale deadly attacks on Pakistan Army and Rangers, thereby killing dozens of security personnel. Moreover, mass casualty assaults have been further carried out towards civilians and civilian installations evident through the hijacking of the Jaffar Express and the hijacking of a bus and killing of a Punjabi citizen. Moreover, the frequent attacks on civilians, infrastructure and security forces expose the false narrative of securing Baloch rights, revealing the BLA and MB as forces of hatred, violence and ethnic strife. Despite their anti-state agenda, the BLA has cultivated sympathy among certain segments, often funded by foreign adversaries and driven by rhetoric around “enforced disappearances” and false claims of racial discrimination—propaganda masking their extremist and destabilizing actions.
This has been a hot topic for self-proclaimed human rights advocates, but to debunk the false narrative, the State must adopt a structured policy to confront these propaganda machines head-on—disseminating facts and evidence proving that many so-called “missing persons” are actually active, armed insurgents, as in the case of Sohaib Langove, a terrorist whitewashed as a human rights victim. Countless similar cases exist, while groups like the Baloch Yakjehti Committee and BLA exploit this narrative to tarnish intelligence agencies and aid anti-state insurgencies. Furthermore, our intelligence agencies need to disseminate through various think tanks and experts that even the superficial narrative of enforced disappearance narrative, in reality, a strategic move shielding from larger and more imminent perils. Evidence must be presented to expose how BLA uses blackmail, funds and in certain cases drugs to further their unholy practices, with universities currently being the biggest hotbeds and safe havens for these terrorists.
It must be highlighted that while some self-proclaimed human rights activists voice concerns and protests against the false notion of enforced disappearance and Baloch people, their selective outrage and activism often turns a blind eye towards BLA’s violent extremism and its destabilizing role in the country. This exposes their hypocrisy and reiterates their true intentions of siding with unrest and instability within the nation. Likewise, it cannot be ignored that BLA operates as a front for Indian Intelligence agency, RAW, which has turned BLA into a proxy under the wider geopolitical end game. India, as an adversary, cannot tolerate a stable and developing Pakistan, therefore, it has used BLA and other insurgent groups to not only threaten the national security but also undermined the economic development by making them target Chinese nationals and engineers thereby halting CPEC.
The wounds of the battlefield have been repurposed into a broader strategy by India, marking a new low in its subversive tactics. Additionally, it must be highlighted that Israel’s Mossad has made inroads into Balochistan through the soft launch of the so-called “Balochistan Studies Project,” managed by MEMRI—revealing how so-called liberation movements are being co-opted as tools for proxy warfare and regional destabilization.
It is high time the State must deal with these insurgent groups with a firm hand through calculated strategic measures. A provincial Jirga must be established, with the State calling upon tribal leaders to disown and distance themselves from organizations like the BLA and BYC, thereby leading systematic campaigns to ostracize these radical elements.
Hopefully, this approach would undermine the recruitment of innocent civilians, erode the ideological influence of these groups and cripple their operational capacity. Institutionalized ostracization can weaken their ecosystem more effectively than force alone. Furthermore, all evidence related to the funding of BYC and BLA leaders should be shared with think tanks to build informed support for the state. Lastly, intelligence agencies must establish a “circle of human espionage” to effectively counter the fabricated narratives propagated by the BLA and BYC.
—The writer is Executive Director: The Centre for Knowledge and Public Policy, Lahore.
