India’s intelligence agency, RAW, has methodically supported Baloch separatist groups like the BLA and BLF in a covert war against Pakistan, driven by political doctrine, backed by financial systems, and enabled by regional networks. But the story does not end there. What has emerged in recent years is a more aggressive, digitally-enabled, and psychologically charged campaign—one that not only targets security and economic infrastructure but seeks to win the battle of narratives.
Evolution of hybrid warfare
Following the unification of Baloch insurgent factions into the Baloch Raaji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS), Indian shadow activities became a hybrid form of terrorism. This encompassed kinetic operations such as psychological warfare strategised to mould the masses and disrupt the international image of Pakistan.
Digital platforms became part of the battlefield. One account, known as “Baba Banaras,” played a suspicious role in predicting and glorifying terrorist attacks, particularly the October 2024 suicide attack on a Chinese convoy near Karachi Airport. According to the BBC story, ‘Blast kills two Chinese near Pakistan’s Karachi airport’, this attack was carried out by a militant of BLA’s Majeed brigade from Noshki, which resulted in the deaths of two Chinese nationals and a Pakistani security officer. Surveillance revealed that Baba Banaras had posted cryptic warnings days in advance and praised the attack afterwards. He tweeted ‘BIG DAY IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS’, 2 hours before the attack.
ISPR have linked such accounts to Indian information warfare cells, suggesting a coordinated attempt to amplify separatist narratives globally.
Karachi University attack
Perhaps the most appalling illustration of this strategy was the Karachi University bombing on April 26, 2022. A female suicide bomber, Shari Baloch, detonated herself near a van carrying Chinese scholars, killing three Chinese nationals and a Pakistani. It marked the first use of a female bomber by the BLA’s Majeed Brigade and was the product of a long radicalisation process.
BLA trainers in Karachi were responsible for her indoctrination. Her husband, Dr Haibtan, played a key facilitating role, while the explosive device was assembled by Bashir Zeb, a high-ranking BLA commander.
Sindh Information Minister, Sharjeel Memon, in a presser stated, “Zeb is the mastermind of the KU attack, who entered Pakistan via a neighbouring country and started living in a flat in the Dehli Colony with Shari Balcoh and her husband. He was an expert at making IEDs.”
The entire operation was reportedly supervised by RAW from a third country as per the DG ISPR Press briefing. Liu Zongyi, director of the Centre for South Asia Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, said, “Trying to split and destabilise Pakistan is the main purpose behind India’s backing of terrorism and now there is another purpose: To obstruct and undermine the construction of the CPEC. India supports separatism and terrorism in Balochistan and other regions in Pakistan, so as to weaken both Pakistan and China. From the beginning, India has seen the CPEC as a geopolitical project that will hurt its so-called new opportunities in South Asia.”
This incident not only highlighted the sophistication of RAW-BLA coordination but also showed a deliberate attempt to target Pakistan’s foreign partnerships.
Indian safehouses for terror planners
In multiple cases, BLA and BLF commanders involved in terror activities were found to have travelled to India under false identities for so-called “medical treatment and planning heinous attacks”
Aslam Achu, mastermind of the Chinese consulate attack, was receiving care at Delhi’s Max Hospital in 2018 when he was tracked by Pakistani intelligence, according to The Express Tribune story.
According to the News International story, Pakistan presents ‘irrefutable’ proof of India’s bids to sabotage CPEC, Dr Allah Nazar (BLF) travelled to India with fake documents under the name “Haji Nabi.”
As reported in the story of The Express Tribune magazine, Doval Doctrine: India’s trail of terror, Jalat Marri, responsible for attacks in Gwadar, Panjgur, and Pasni, also visited India in 2019, reportedly coordinating operations from New Delhi.
These visits, far from being humanitarian, were allegedly part of RAW’s refit-and-relaunch strategy—giving injured or targeted commanders temporary refuge to plan the next wave of violence.
An article published in the Global Times argued that, “The BLA, especially the Majeed Brigade, has close contact with India, but it is hard to judge whether these are official [or] not. But without Indian travel permits, the Majeed Brigade head’s visits to India would not be possible.”
India’s involvement in Jaffar Express hijacking
On March 11, 2025, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) executed a brazen hijacking of the Jaffar Express train in Balochistan, holding over 340 passengers hostage. Pakistani intelligence investigations later revealed that this act of terrorism was not an isolated event but a meticulously planned operation coordinated with India’s intelligence agency, RAW. This was explained in Al Jazeera’s story, Pakistan links train hijacking to ‘Afghan handlers’ and Indian mastermind.
According to ISPR, the hijacking was preceded by a series of high-level meetings between BLA commanders and RAW agents. On February 21, 2025, BLA leader Bashir Zeb and Fazal Sher reportedly met with two RAW operatives in a neighbouring country to finalise the outline of the attack. A second strategic meeting took place on February 26, involving Bashir Zeb, Rehman Gul, and Khalil Chairman, who met Indian officials in a third country to coordinate logistics and execution details.
T-magazine’s story, Doval Doctrine: India’s trail of terror revealed that intelligence intercepts confirmed real-time communication between the attackers and RAW handlers based outside Pakistan. Following the attack, Indian-linked media outlets gave significant coverage to BLA representatives, including spokespersons Jeeyand Baloch and Bahot Baloch, who appeared on Indian media to glorify the act.
When BLA aligned with India
The most alarming development came during the May 2025 standoff between Pakistan and India. As tensions spiked due to Indian air strikes, the BLA released a public statement on May 14 offering to support Indian military efforts against Pakistan—effectively positioning itself as a surrogate force for a foreign adversary. What followed was a coordinated escalation.
Between April 22 and May 11, Balochistan witnessed a sharp spike in violence. On May 21, a suicide attack on a school bus in Khuzdar killed several children. Pakistani intelligence traced the attack to the RAW-BLA alliance. Intercepts confirmed that the bombing was carried out with the support of RAW operatives and glorified on Indian digital platforms. DG ISPR stated that “Khuzdar attack driven by Indian provocation” as reported in Dawn News.
This convergence of separatist militancy and interstate military aggression underlines the dangerous transformation of proxy warfare into an open threat to regional peace.
Conclusion
The shadow war, which India has unleashed on Balochistan through its proxies, the BLA and the BLF, is not merely a regional dispute. It is a test case of international law, elements of diplomacy, or lack of it, and even ethics. RAW-BLA nexus is one of the most dangerous type of modern wars: the state sponsored terrorism under the garb of geopolitical confrontation. Such tactics risk normalising hybrid warfare as a legitimate foreign policy tool. In doing so, the world may not just fail Pakistan—it may betray the very principles it claims to uphold. The international community has to face the uncomfortable truth: there is no such thing as interfering with any other country by using proxies and declaring it as a strategy, it is another form of terrorism.
