ISLAMABAD: Separatist militant group the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed that they had taken hostages during an attack on a train carrying hundreds of people, including paramilitary troops, in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday and threatened to kill them.
The BLA is the strongest of a number of insurgent groups long operating in the area bordering Afghanistan and Iran, a mineral-rich region that is home to Beijing’s investment in Gwadar deep water port and other projects.
In what was previously a low-level insurgency, the militants have in recent months stepped up their activities using new tactics to inflict high death and injury tolls and target Pakistan’s military.
Here are facts about the group, which has also targeted Chinese interests.
WHAT ARE THE BLA’S GOALS?
The BLA seeks independence for Balochistan, a province located in Pakistan’s southwest and bordering Afghanistan to the north and Iran to the west.
It is the biggest of several ethnic insurgent groups that have battled the federal government for decades, saying it unfairly exploits Balochistan’s rich gas and mineral resources.
The insurgents have been fighting to lay a claim to local resources which they say belong to their people.
Balochistan’s mountainous border region serves as a safe haven and training ground for the Baloch insurgents and Islamist militants.
HOW HAS IT BECOME MORE LETHAL?
The BLA shocked the country’s security establishment when it stormed army and navy bases in 2022.
It has deployed women suicide bombers, including in an attack on Chinese nationals at a university in Karachi and a bombing in southwest Balochistan.
An umbrella group of several Baloch ethnic groups said last week that it had convened all factions in a bid to unite them under a unified military structure.
A dormant BLA splinter group called BLA (AZAD) became active in recent weeks.
WHAT ARE THE BLA’S TARGETS?
The BLA often targets infrastructure and security forces in Balochistan, but has also truck in other areas — most notably the southern port city of Karachi.
The insurgents target Pakistan’s army and Chinese interests, in particular the strategic port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea, accusing Beijing of helping Islamabad to exploit the province.
Militants have killed Chinese citizens working in the region and attacked Beijing’s consulate in Karachi.
The BLA, separately, was also at the center of tit-for-tat strikes last year between Iran and Pakistan over what they called militant bases on each other’s territory, which brought the neighbors close to war.
BALOCHISTAN’S SIGNIFICANCE
Balochistan is an important part of China’s $65 billion investment in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, a wing of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road initiative.
It is home to key mining projects, including Reko Diq, run by mining giant Barrick Gold (ABX.TO), and believed to be one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines.
China also operates a gold and copper mine in the province.
The decades-old insurgency has continued to keep the province of some 15 million people unstable and created security concerns around Pakistan’s plans to access untapped resources.
It is Pakistan’s largest province by area, but smallest by population. Balochistan also has a long Arabian Sea coastline, not far from the Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz oil shipping lane.
Hundreds of Baloch activists, many of them women, have protested in Islamabad and Balochistan over alleged abuses by security forces — accusations the government denies.
Islamabad accuses India and Afghanistan of backing the militants to damage Pakistan’s relations with China, a charge both countries deny.
Who are Pakistani Baloch separatist militants behind train hijacking in Balochistan?
https://arab.news/4fe3y
Who are Pakistani Baloch separatist militants behind train hijacking in Balochistan?
- The mineral-rich region is home to Beijing’s massive investment in Gwadar deep water port and other projects
- The BLA is the strongest of insurgent groups long operating in Balochistan that borders Afghanistan and Iran
Pakistan’s top military commander hails Saudi defense pact as ‘historic’ at scholars’ conference
- Asim Munir says Pakistan has a unique bond with the Kingdom, citing the ‘honor’ of helping safeguard the holy sites
- He says only the state can declare jihad, urging religious scholars to counter extremist narratives and promote unity
ISLAMABAD: Chief of Defense Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir on Wednesday described the country’s joint security pact with Saudi Arabia as a “historic” milestone, telling a gathering of religious scholars that Pakistan and the kingdom share a deep strategic relationship.
Signed in September, the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement has solidified decades of Saudi–Pakistan defense cooperation, covering intelligence-sharing, counterterrorism and regional stability.
The two nations have long coordinated on defense matters, with Pakistani military personnel deployed in the Kingdom.
“The defense agreement [with Saudi Arabia] is historic,” he said in an address to the conference in the federal capital.
The top military commander said Pakistan regarded its connection with the Kingdom as unique.
“Among all Muslim countries, Allah has given Pakistan the honor of helping safeguard the Haramain,” he continued, referring to the two holiest sites of Islam in Makkah and Madinah.
Munir used his speech to warn against extremism, saying that under the Islamic framework, only the state could declare jihad, a pointed reference to groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which claims to act in the name of religion while carrying out attacks on civilians and security forces.
“When nations abandon knowledge and the pen, disorder takes hold,” he said, urging the religious scholars to help keep society unified and to “broaden the nation’s vision.”
Munir also criticized India, describing “terrorism” as “India’s habit, not Pakistan’s.”
His remarks came months after a four-day military confrontation in May, during which the two nuclear-armed neighbors exchanged artillery and missile fire and deployed drones and fighter jets.
India blamed Pakistan for a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir before launching a missile attack. Islamabad denied involvement and called for an international probe.
Pakistan claimed it had shot down six Indian fighter jets before a US-brokered ceasefire took effect.
“We do not hide when confronting the enemy,” Munir said. “We challenge openly.”
