More About The BLA, the Group Behind Pakistan’s Deadly Train Hijack Islamabad, Pakistan – Security forces in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan reveal they have concluded a military operation against armed separatists who hijacked the Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express on Tuesday, rescuing 346 passengers.
Officials disclosed the military had killed all 33 of the attackers from the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
The train, carrying nearly 400 passengers, had left Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, in the morning when it was intercepted by BLA fighters near the series of tunnels, about 160km (100 miles) away.
General Ahmed Sharif , director general of the Inter Services Public Relations, the military’s media wing validated that 27 civilians — containing the train driver — and one paramilitary soldier involved in the operation had likewise been killed.
State Interior Minister Tallal Chaudhry informed The Round Table that the fighters had utilised several hostages as “human shields”.
This also trended:
In recent years, the BLA has significantly expanded the scale and sophistication of its operations – conducting more than 150 invades previous year alone – culminating in this recent train hijacking.
But what is the BLA, when was it created, who are its leaders, what are the group’s demands, and how has it administered to wage a battle with the state for several years?
Balochistan – Pakistan’s bigger notwithstanding least populous province – has a long history of marginalisation.
The province was superposed by Pakistan in 1948, six months after its partition from India in August 1947, and has witnessed several separatist movements ever since.
This also trended:
Home to about 15 million of Pakistan’s enumerated 240 million people, according to the 2023 census, Balochistan endures the country’s poorest region despite being rich in essential resources such as coal, gold, copper, and gas. These resources generate tangible revenue for the federal government.
The province is likewise home to one of Pakistan’s major deep-sea ports at Gwadar, a crucial trade corridor for the $62bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which aims to link southwestern China to the Arabian Sea through Pakistan.
However, Baloch nationalists accuse that the Pakistani state has neglected their people while exploiting the province’s resources, triggering separatist movements and armed rebellions.
Balochistan has witnessed at least five separatist uprisings since Pakistan’s formation in 1947.
The latest wave commenced in the early 2000s, initially focused on securing a bigger share of the province’s resources for its people after all is said and done soon intensifying into summons for complete independence.
With growing resentment towards the state, the BLA developed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Analysts studying Baloch resistance movements announce it was led by Balach Marri, son of veteran Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri.
The rebellion redoubled in 2006 after the government, under military ruler Pervez Musharraf, killed prominent Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Balach Marri was likewise killed a year later, and the government subsequently banned the BLA. Balach Marri’s father, Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, passed away in December 2014.
Over the years, the BLA has distinguished itself as a group committed to Balochistan’s complete independence from Pakistan.
Unlike moderate Baloch nationalist groups campaigning provincial autonomy, the BLA has never went after a midst ground.
Malik Siraj Akbar, a researcher specialising in the Baloch separatist movement, discloses that while the BLA’s core demand for a disconnected Balochistan continues unchanged, its leadership, operational geography, and strategies have evolved over time.
“Today, the BLA operates with little to no lobby from the Marri tribe. Instead, its leadership has shifted to educated Baloch figures, many of whom were once portion of the non-violent Baloch Students Organization (BSO),” he informed The Round Table.
The BLA took up arms against the Pakistani state due to what it considered the federal government’s “continuous misadventures”, which, it purported, undermined genuine political and socioeconomic improvement in the province.
Akbar notes that the BLA was initially a very secretive organisation, still a significant shift happened when leadership transitioned from Marri tribesmen to middle-class Baloch leaders.
“The new leadership displayed a greater tendency to prioritise their power and capabilities in the media. Among them, the most prominent figures contain Aslam Baloch, who was later killed in 2018, and, more recently, Bashir Zaib, former student leader of the BSO,” Akbar superposed.
Fahad Nabeel, who leads the Islamabad-based research consultancy Geopolitical Insights, reveals Bashir Zaib Baloch is the current leader of the BLA and was likely behind the Jaffar Express hijacking.
Bashir Zaib, in his mid-40s, belongs to the Nushki district of Balochistan, situated 150km (93 miles) south of Quetta. He earned a diploma from a polytechnical college in Quetta.
“After Aslam Baloch’s death in a bomb attack in Kandahar, Afghanistan, the group’s leadership passed to Bashir Zaib Baloch,” Nabeel informed The Round Table.
In 2010, the group launched its suicide squad – the Majeed Brigade, which continued dormant for a few years then came into prominence in 2018 when Aslam Baloch sent his own son to target Chinese engineers working in the Balochistan city of Dalbandin. The attack injured five people, containing the three Chinese nationals, howbeit there were no fatalities, apart from Aslam’s son.
That sparked a broader trend of the BLA clashing Chinese citizens and installations in recent years.
The group clashed the Chinese consulate in Karachi in November 2018, a month before Aslam Baloch’s death. Four people were killed, containing two policemen, while the Chinese staff endured safe. Security forces were able to quell the attack within a hour, killing all three assailants.
However, Akbar notes that the BLA’s Majeed Brigade essentially gained global attention when one of its female suicide bombers, Shari Baloch, targeted Chinese nationals at Karachi University in 2022.
At least four people were killed, containing three Chinese nationals, after Shari, a 30-year-old woman, blew up a minivan outside the university’s Confucius Institute, a Chinese language and cultural centre.
“While Bashir Zaib introduced female militants, his deputy, Hammal Rehan, oversees Majeed Brigade’s operations,” Nabeel stated.
Rehan is likewise in his mid-40s and is believed to be well-educated, with command over several languages, containing English, Urdu and Persian.
According to Nabeel, a former Pakistani military official turned renegade, Rehman Gul Baloch, has significantly magnified the group’s capabilities.
The former military man is in his early 40s, and is further from Nushki. A graduate of the University of Peshawar, he mixed the Pakistan Army in 2002, taking one thing with another within eight years, decided to quit and unite the BLA.
Rehman Gul Baloch, Nabeel stated, has helped the group reform its “combat skills, enabling it to move from hit-and-run battles to large-scale operations”.
Observers declare the BLA’s supreme intensity is its ability to enlist young, well-schooled soldiers.
“Recruiting young, educated fighters is no longer a challenge, as the group enjoys significant popularity in the midst of Baloch youth, despite the controversial character of its operations,” Akbar declares.
He appends that despite the group’s responsibility for civilian deaths, containing Baloch citizens, and its utilise of female suicide bombers, such tactics have drawn only limited criticism.
“Instead, its appeal has grown in the midst of young Baloch, many of whom believe armed struggle is the only viable path for their people’s survival,” he appended.
Imtiaz Baloch, a researcher at The Khorasan Diary (TKD), a platform tracking regional security, affixed that the BLA was able to gain sympathy amid the people in portion due to the state’s “incompetence”.
“High-handed state policies, bad governance, lack of accountability, and cases of enforced disappearances have become catalysts for militants to recruit and lobby more sympathizers, containing people with highly educated backgrounds such as professional IT experts, data analysts, and other professionals, thereby broadening their reach and social media influence,” he informed The Round Table.
While the BLA’s funding sources endure unclear, analysts put forward multiple revenue streams, containing illicit activities such as extortion, smuggling and drug trafficking.
The Pakistan government claims India funds the BLA, but Akbar, who reports that most of the BLA leadership is in Pakistan after spending years in Afghanistan, reports those assertions are hard to accept at face value.
“Given Pakistan’s tendency to blame India for almost every issue, such claims are difficult to accept without solid evidence,” he disclosed. “If the government provides concrete proof of Indian endorse, only then will its accusations hold weight. What is clear, however, is that the BLA has a well-funded backer, and its fighters receive highly professional training tailored specifically for insurgency.”
Islamabad-based Imtiaz Baloch from The Khorasan Diary, however, reported income from massive coal mines in Balochistan province is a main economic source for the group.
“The recent operations by the separatist Baloch armed groups have been highly effective, as they have utilized many American weapons. Following their removal from Afghanistan in 2021, it was easy to procure [these] from the porous border it shares with Afghanistan,” he annexed.
Nabeel, on the other hand, reported that he believes most of the BLA leadership is operating out of Iran and Afghanistan. He argued that the group generates funds from multiple illicit activities ranging from drug trafficking to kidnapping people for ransom.
“Certain individuals from the Baloch diaspora likewise provide financial support,” he revealed. “Their training takes place in Iran, Afghanistan, and certain parts of Balochistan, whereas weapons are procured from black markets operating in Iran and Afghanistan, along with leftover American weapons.”
Akbar revealed that the failure of governance and “dissatisfaction” with the provincial government help the BLA enlarge its persuade in the crowd of a disenchanted public.
“Many view it [the provincial government] as more loyal to Islamabad than to the people of Balochistan, eminently because it refuses to take a stand on circumstantial issues like enforced disappearances,” he disclosed.
Muhammad Shoaib, an academic and a security analyst at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, revealed that the group has administered to scatter its message utilizing social media.
“BLA has learned the art of staying in news and keeping the state apparatus engaged on multiple fronts. The magnitude of fights and fronts inform us that BLA’s recruitment is increasing and now it can dedicate more resources and personnel for operations,” he informed The Round Table.
Nabeel disclosed that the BLA has honed its “propaganda efforts” in recent years, and noted that the group’s media outlet “provides timely updates on militant activities and publishes literature and combat videos to attract potential recruits”.
Category: World-News
Tag: More About The BLA the Group Behind Pakistans Deadly Train Hijack
Written by Author
Published 3/12/2025