ISLAMABAD: The banned terrorist outfit, Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), has become a significant security threat with implications that extend beyond Pakistan’s borders.
By repeatedly targeting supply convoys, trains, and critical transport infrastructure, the terrorist group is not only holding vital transit routes and livelihoods hostage but also undermining regional connectivity and economic integration, thereby advancing the interests of forces seeking to disrupt cross-border trade and cooperation.
The United States already designated the BLA as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organisation, while its Majeed Brigade has also been included under that designation framework.
The BLA resembles internationally designated terrorist organisations such as Al-Qaeda and Daesh. Its attacks on civilians, transport networks, and critical infrastructure suggest an agenda that extends beyond territorial claims to disrupting commerce, connectivity, and everyday life.
Historically, such tactics have shaped the evolution of international counterterrorism frameworks, including the sanctions regime established under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest yet least populous province, is home to the ethnic Baloch community. However, the BLA’s repeated targeting of civilians has drawn criticism and raised questions about its stated objectives.
Pakistan has long accused India of providing support to the BLA.
Pakistan’s efforts to secure a United Nations terrorist designation for the BLA and its Majeed Brigade have gained renewed attention after a joint Pakistan-China proposal was blocked at the UN Security Council earlier this month.
Pakistani officials have repeatedly argued that the group’s activities extend beyond terrorism and carry broader implications for regional stability.
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, recently told the Security Council that terrorist organisations, including ISIL-K, Al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, BLA and the Majeed Brigade continue to operate from sanctuaries in Afghanistan, facilitating cross-border attacks and violence.
A UN listing would legally oblige all member states to freeze assets linked to the organisation, restrict financial networks, impose travel bans on designated individuals and prevent the supply of weapons or logistical support.
“When trains are attacked, highways are repeatedly targeted, freight vehicles are stopped, and critical infrastructure is put under pressure, it is clear that the aim is not just to confront the state,” Aetzaz Ahmed Goraya, the deputy inspector general at the counter terrorism department in Balochistan, said.
“The aim is to make people think twice about moving goods, investing money, or doing business in the area…Over time, that kind of disruption can do real damage to a region’s economic future,” he told TRT World.
Balochistan serves as Pakistan’s gateway to the Arabian Sea through Gwadar Port and occupies a strategic position linking the commercial networks of South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and western China. Disruptions in the province, therefore, carry implications that extend far beyond Pakistan’s borders.
According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), the March 2025 hijacking of the Jaffar Express came after at least 18 previous attacks on railway infrastructure and trains, repeatedly forcing Pakistan Railways to suspend operations in parts of Balochistan.
Meanwhile, the Global Terrorism Index 2026 found that nearly three-quarters of Pakistan’s 1,045 terrorist incidents in 2025 occurred in Balochistan, making it the epicentre of the country’s deadliest year for terrorism since 2013. Overall, Pakistan recorded 1,139 terrorism-related deaths in 2025, the highest annual toll in more than a decade.
Although the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) remains the country’s most lethal terrorist group, accounting for more than two-thirds of all terrorist attacks since 2007, the BLA has become the dominant source of insecurity in Balochistan, driving much of the violence and instability in the province.
At the heart of this challenge lies the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $62 billion connectivity initiative designed to link regional markets and enhance economic integration across Asia. Yet the project has increasingly come under threat from the BLA.
By connecting western China to Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea, the corridor offers a shorter and more efficient trade route to global markets, significantly reducing transit times for goods destined for Europe and the Middle East.
As countries across East Asia, Central Asia, and the Gulf pursue deeper economic integration, the security of Balochistan’s roads, railways, and energy corridors has become as critical to regional commerce as the protection of major maritime trade routes.
Scott Kelly, Founder of GrayZone Advisory and International Affairs, argues the BLA has crossed into terrorism territory.
“The BLA appears to be moving toward a model designed not only to fight Pakistani security forces, but to make Balochistan harder to govern, harder to invest in, and harder to integrate economically,” he tells TRT World.
“That makes the challenge both a counter terrorism problem and a governance problem.”
At a time when terrorist organisations increasingly exploit cross-border financial systems and digital platforms, a coordinated global response is often more effective than isolated national measures.
