ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Security forces in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan say they have signed a military operation against the armed separatists that hijacked the Jafar Express tied to Peshawar on Tuesday and rescued 346 passengers.
Authorities said the troops killed all 33 attackers from the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
The train carrying around 400 passengers had left Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, on the morning that was intercepted by Bla Fighters near a series of tunnels about 160 km (100 miles) away.
General Ahmed Sharif, director of Interservices’ Public Relations, confirmed that the media wing of the train, the military media wing, had also been killed 27 civilians, including the train driver, as well as one paramilitary soldier involved in the operation.
State Minister of Home Affairs Talal Chaudhry told Al Jazeera that the Fighters used several hostages as “human shields.”
In recent years, BLA has significantly expanded the scale and refinement of its operations, which have carried out more than 150 attacks last year alone, culminating in this recent train hijacking.
But what is the BLA, when it was created, who its leader was, what is the group’s demands, and how have they been able to fight the nation over the years?
Why is there a separatist movement in Balochistan?
Balochistan – the largest province in Pakistan, the smallest and most populous province – has a long history of alienation.
The province was annexed by Pakistan in August 1948, six months after its distribution from India, and has since witnessed several separatist movements.
According to the 2023 census, it lives around 15 million people, an estimated 240 million people in Pakistan. These resources generate substantial revenue for the federal government.
The province also has one of Pakistan’s major deep sea ports in Gwadar. It is a key trade corridor in the $62 billion economic corridor (CPEC) in southwestern China, with the aim of linking southwestern China to the Arabian Sea through Pakistan.
But the Baroque nationalists argue that the Pakistani state exploited the state’s resources and ignored the people while causing separatist movements and armed rebellions.
When was the BLA created and what led to its formation?
Balochistan has witnessed at least five separatist uprisings since Pakistan’s formation in 1947.
The latest wave began in the early 2000s, initially focusing on securing a greater share of state resources for the people of the state, but soon escalated in search of full independence.
With increasing responsiveness to the state, BLAs appeared in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Analysts studying the movement of Baroque resistance say it was led by Barach Mali, son of veteran Baroque nationalist leader Nawab Kaeru Bafsch Mali.
The rebellion escalated in 2006 after the government killed prominent Baroque nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti in 2006 under military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
A year later, Barahamari was also killed, and the government subsequently banned the BLA. Balach Marri’s father, Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, passed away in December 2014.
For many years, the BLA has identified Balochistan’s status as a group committed to full independence from Pakistan.
Unlike the moderate Baroque nationalist groups that advocate local autonomy, the BLA has never pursued the centre.
Malik Siraj Akbar, a researcher specializing in the Baroque separatist movement, says the BLA’s core demand for independent Balochistan remains unchanged, and its leadership, operational geography and strategy have evolved over time.
“Today, the BLA operates with little influence from the Marri tribe. Instead, its leadership has moved to educated Baroque figures, many of which were once part of a non-violent Baroque Student Organization (BSO),” he told Al Jazeera.
Who is the main leader of the BLA?
The BLA has taken arms against the Pakistani state as it is considered a “continuous misfortune” of the federal government.
Akbar says that the BLA was initially a very secret organization, but a major change took place when leadership shifted from Marri tribes to middle-class Baroque leaders.
“The new leadership has shown a tendency to show one’s strength and capabilities in the media, including the most notable figures of which include Aslam Baroque, who was later killed in 2018, and more recently Bashirzaib, a former student leader at BSO,” added Akbar.
Fahad Nabeel, who heads Geopolitical Insights, an Islamabad-based research consultancy firm, says Bashir Zaib Baloch is the current leader of the BLA and is likely behind the hijacking of Jaffar Express.
Bashir Zayb belongs to Balochistan’s Nushki district, located 150 km (93 miles) south of Quetta in the mid-40s. He received his diploma from Polytechnic College in Quetta.
“After Aslam Baroque’s death in a bomb attack in Kandahar, Afghanistan, the group’s leadership was passed to Bashirzaib Baroque,” Nabir told Al Jazeera.
In 2010, the group launched the Suicide Squad – Majeed Brigade. This remained dormant for several years and became prominent in 2018 when Aslam Baloque sent his son, targeting a Chinese engineer working in Darbandin, Balochistan. The attack injured five people, including three Chinese citizens, but none other than Aslam’s son.
It has sparked a broader trend in BLA to attack Chinese citizens and facilities in recent years.
The group attacked the Chinese consulate in Karachi in November 2018, a month before Aslam Baroque’s death. Four people were killed, including two police officers, but Chinese staff remained safe. Within an hour, security forces were able to suppress the attack and kill all three of the attackers.
However, Akbar notes that one of the 2022 female suicide bombers targeting the Chinese citizens of Karachi University, Shari Baroque, has pointed out that BLA’s Majeed Brigade has truly attracted global attention.
At least four people, including three Chinese citizens, have been killed after Shari, a 30-year-old woman, blows up a minivan outside the university’s Confucius Institute, Chinese and Cultural Center.
“Bashir Zayb introduced female extremists, but his deputy, Hamal Rehan, oversaw the operation of the Majeed Brigade,” Nabir said.
Rehan was also in the mid-40s and is considered to have a high level of education as a commander over several languages, including English, Urdu and Persian.
According to Nabeel, the former Pakistani military official became rebel Rehman Gul Baloch, significantly strengthening the group’s capabilities.
The former soldier is in his early 40s and is originally from Nushki. A graduate of Peshawar University, he joined the Pakistani Army in 2002, but within eight years he decided to quit the BLA and participate.
Nabeel said Rehman Gul Baloch helped the group “enhancing combat skills and allowing them to move from hit-and-run attacks to large-scale operations.”
How is BLA adopted?
Observers say that BLA’s biggest strength is its ability to register young, school-based soldiers.
“Employing young-educated fighters is no longer a challenge because the group has gained great popularity among Baroque youth despite the controversial nature of its operation,” Akbar says.
He added that despite the group’s responsibility for the deaths of civilians, including Baroque citizens, and the use of women’s suicide bombing use, such tactics have attracted only limited criticism.
“Instead, its appeal has grown among the younger Baroques, many of whom believe armed struggle is the only viable path for people’s survival,” he added.
Imtiaz Baloch, a researcher at Khorasan Diary (TKD), a platform that tracks local security, added that the BLA can gain sympathy among some people because of the state’s “incompetent.”
“The cases of policy, bad governance, lack of accountability and forced loss abes in High Hand state are catalyzed by extremists who are recruiting more sympathizers and affecting them, including people from highly educated backgrounds such as experts, data analysts and other experts,” he told Al Jazeera.
Bla Fighters also claimed responsibility for targeting the Chinese consulate building in Karachi in November 2018 [File photo: Rehan Khan/EPA]
How does BLA fund its operations?
The source of funding for the BLA remains unknown, but analysts have proposed multiple revenue streams, including illegal activities such as fear, smuggling and drug trafficking.
The Pakistani government claims India is funding the BLA, but Akbar claims that the majority of BLA leaders are in Pakistan after years in Afghanistan, says those claims are difficult to take at face value.
” Given the tendency to blame India for almost all Pakistan’s issues, such claims are difficult to accept without solid evidence,” he said. “If the government provides concrete evidence of Indian support, the accusations will retain weight. But what is clear is that the BLA has a well-funded backer, and its fighters have received very specialized training, specifically tailored for the rebellion.”
However, Islamabad-based Imtias Baroque in Khorasan’s diary said revenue from large coal mines in Balochistan is the group’s main economic source.
“Recent operations by separatist Baroque armed groups have been extremely effective as they utilize many American weapons. Following the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, procurement was easy. [these] From the porous boundary, it shares it with Afghanistan,” he added.
Meanwhile, Nabir said he believes that most of the BLA’s leadership is active in Iran and Afghanistan. He argued that the group would generate funds from multiple illegal activities, from drug trafficking to luring people to ransoms.
“Certain individuals in the Baroque Diaspora are also providing financial support,” he said. “Their training will take place in certain parts of Iran, Afghanistan and Balochistan, but weapons are sourced from the black markets operating in Iran and Afghanistan, along with the rest of the American weapons.”
How does BLA build that story?
Akbar said failures in governance and failure to “dissatisfaction” with the state government will help the BLA increase its impact among disillusioned people.
“A lot of people see it [the provincial government] “In particular, they are more loyal to Islamabad than the people of Balochistan, and are refusing to confront important issues like the loss of failure that was enacted,” he said.
Muhammad Shoaib, an academic and security analyst at Quaid-I-Azam University in Islamabad, said the group was able to use social media to spread the message.
“Bla has learned the art of staying in the news and continuing to engage state equipment in multiple ways. The amount of attacks and fronts tells us that BLA adoption is on the rise and now more resources and staff can be dedicated to operations,” he told Al Jazeera.
Nabeel said the BLA has hone its “propaganda efforts” in recent years, and that the group’s media outlets have “released literature and combat videos and released the videos to provide timely updates on extremist activities and attract potential recruits.”
