IN a realistic move, the United States has designated the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its alias, the Majeed Brigade, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), the State Department said in a statement on its website on Monday.
The statement further noted that the Majeed Brigade has also been added as an alias to the BLA’s earlier Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) listing, making it a crime in the US to provide support to these groups. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the action underlines the Trump administration’s commitment to countering terrorism.
This is, indeed, a diplomatic success for Pakistan as the country is facing heightened terrorist activities by outlawed entities that are openly backed by India, as per its plans to destabilize the resource-rich Balochistan. The resurgence of terrorism in the province comes in the backdrop of the befitting response that India received at the hands of Pakistan defence forces in the recent war and frantic efforts being made by the civil and military authorities to accelerate the pace of socio-economic development in the province by luring local and foreign investors as part of the strategy to bring it at par with other regions of the country. The designation of BLA as a terrorist organization is an indicator that the world community, at last, has started realizing the gravity of the threat posed to Pakistan by such outfits, which are funded, armed and trained by India. Pakistan repeatedly sensitized the international community about the nature of the threat by providing comprehensive evidence in the shape of dossiers. Pakistan’s claims were not baseless as the outlawed organization itself claimed responsibility for scores of dastardly attacks on civilians as well as state symbols. BLA claimed responsibility for suicide attacks near Karachi airport and the Gwadar Port Authority Complex in 2024. In March 2025, the group claimed it hijacked the Jaffar Express train travelling from Quetta to Peshawar, killing 31 civilians and security personnel and taking more than 300 passengers hostage. Most recently, in July, Pakistan urged the international community to adopt objective and non-discriminatory policies to address the global menace of terrorism through collective efforts, while calling for the inclusion of terrorist organizations such as the Majeed Brigade, as an alias of BLA, in international terrorist lists. We hope that this designation (by the US) will help isolate the terrorist outfit and its backers as well as strengthen the hands of Pakistan security forces in the war against terror. This is important as some local elements are trying to give political colour to the terrorist activities of such organizations and the counter-terrorism campaign of the state.
