On April 26, 2022, a shuttle bus from the Confucius Institute at the University of Karachi in Pakistan suffered a suicide terrorist attack on campus, killing four people, including three Chinese citizens. The terrorist attack was caused by a group known as the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
Although the organization is called the "People's Liberation Army", it is actually an ultra-nationalist armed separatist force in Pakistan, which has been recognized as a terrorist organization by many countries and regions because of its radical anti-humanity methods.
1. Baloch people of Balochistan
Baluch literally means "nomadic", and Baluch is a nomadic herder, belonging to the Mediterranean type of Europa race, using the Baloch language.
The ancestors of the Baloch people originally lived in the Aleppo steppe of Syria and migrated to Tabriz, Mashhad and other places. Later, it reached Kerman and Sistan, and was ostracized by the Seljuks and Mongols, and gradually migrated to its current location.
In the 18th century, the Balochs established a loose State of Balochistan, which soon became a protectorate of the British colonists.
At the end of the 19th century, in order to prevent Tsarist Russia from moving south, the British allocated part of Balochistan to Afghanistan and the other part to British India. Since then, the Baloch have launched several independence movements, all of which have been suppressed.
After World War II, under the anti-colonial wave, britain withdrew from the south asian subcontinent, just when the Baloch people thought that the hope of independence was coming, the British made a "Mountbatten Act" to divide India and Pakistan, separating Pakistan from India and dividing Baloch to Pakistan.
After the establishment of the State of Pakistan, Balochistan launched many separatist movements, all of which were suppressed by Pakistan, but the separatism in Balochistan has always existed, and the security situation in Balochistan and the neighboring sindh province is still very serious, and security incidents occur from time to time.
Balochistan separatists want to establish an independent state in the western part of Iran and Pakistan, so it has been a big problem for the Pakistani government.
Balochistan is pakistan's largest province, with an area of 340,000 square kilometers, accounting for 43.6% of Pakistan's total land area, close to half of Pakistan's land area, and it is located in the border area with Iran and Afghanistan.
More than half of Baloch live in Pakistan's Balochistan province, one-third live in Iran's Balochistan province, afghanistan is more abundant, and others are scattered in some countries, such as Turkmenistan, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and some parts of Africa, as well as a small distribution in Europe's Sweden and Australia.
In Balochistan, there are only a few million Baloch people, mainly in tribal form, tribal elders have high authority, and there are dozens of tribes.
The vast majority of Baloch people believe in Islam and strictly abide by the provisions of Islamic sharia law, which was introduced to the Balochistan region as early as the 11th century.
2. The Formation of the Balochistan People's Liberation Army
The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan in the last century supported the pro-Soviet government, while the rebels were supported by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United States and other countries.
In order to disrupt Pakistan's support for Afghanistan, the Soviet Union took advantage of Pakistan's internal contradictions and decided to set up an organization within Pakistan that could specialize in sabotage, one of which was the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Balochistan Liberation Army, which had lost its financial and weapons support, fell silent for a time.
After 9/11, the United States began to co-opt and support the group, which also took advantage of the unrest in Pakistan to become active again.
In order to weaken Pakistan, the balochistanding army is also behind Pakistan's old rival India, which, in addition to providing financial support, has also set up training camps in Afghanistan to help with training.
Other countries that support it include Iran and Afghanistan, as well as some Western countries.
The ultimate aim of the organization now is to achieve the complete independence of Balochistan.
3. The Balochistan Liberation Army, a terrorist organization
Terrorist organizations are organizations of anti-social and anti-human beings who organize and purposefully carry out inhumane acts of terror against the people and society.
Their purpose was to achieve their political aims, and the Balochistan Liberation Army was one such organization, and their purpose was to seek independence.
The "Balochistan Liberation Army" itself is not strong, the number is small, because it does not have the strength to directly oppose the Pakistani government army, so it has attacked government personnel and innocent ordinary people through suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks, in order to test and strike at the Pakistani government.
Some armed groups in Pakistan sometimes use the "Balochibulayan Liberation Army" to launch attacks, and the "Balochistan Liberation Army" likes to take these attacks upon itself in order to increase its influence.
In order to increase their influence and put more pressure on the Pakistani government, they also shifted from simply attacking Pakistanis to attacking foreigners or institutions in Pakistan.
Because China has good relations with the Pakistani government, and the Belt and Road Initiative has played a great role in improving Pakistan's local economic level and stabilizing the situation, Chinese and Chinese institutions in Pakistan, as well as aided projects, have often been targeted by Balochistan extremist groups.
Why Pakistan can't destroy it
First of all, there are not many people in this organization, it is very difficult to find hundreds of people in a province with more deserts, and the Beluchi people exist in the form of tribes, many of them live as nomads, and when there is a problem, they are terrorist organizations, and when they put down their guns and hide in the tribes, they are herders, and it is difficult to distinguish who is good and who is bad.
There is also the support of foreign financiers, not only money and weapons, but also intelligence support, which increases the difficulty of encirclement and suppression.
B. Beluchistan,000, which is also close to Iran and Afghanistan, is also suspected of covert support, and it is also difficult for terrorist groups to run to these two countries after the accident.
5. Blood debts must be paid in blood
On November 23, 2018, the Balochistan Liberation Army attacked the Chinese consulate in Pakistan. In January 2019, the group's key figure, suspect Rashid Baroque, was arrested.
On April 26, 2022, a shuttle bus from the Confucius Institute at the University of Karachi in Pakistan suffered a suicide terrorist attack on the campus, resulting in the deaths of three Chinese citizens.
Blood debts must be paid in blood.