SUMMARY
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) is one of several militant separatist groups based in the province of Balochistan in western Pakistan. BLA opposes the government of Pakistan and aims to establish an independent state. Despite being rich in natural resources, Balochistan is among the poorest regions in Pakistan. This, together with the growing influx from Punjab and other non-ethnic Baloch, has resulted in a widespread perception among ethnic Baloch who feel economically and politically marginalized within Pakistan. As a result, the region has seen a number of insurgency movements since the state of Pakistan was created in 1948 and the Pakistani government has repeatedly used brutal military force to suppress the uprisings.
The origins of the Balochistan Liberation Army are somewhat unclear, as some reports suggest that there was a group with that name already during the conflict years in the 1970s. If so, it is not likely that the old BLA had much in common with the BLA active today. It is believed that BLA was set up by Baloch tribesmen in exile in Afghanistan some time during the 1980s. Former members of the Baloch Peoples Liberation Front (BPLF) and followers of one of the leading Baloch nationalists, Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri of the Marri tribe, had settled there following the end of the fighting in 1977. The common denominators for the Afghan exiles were an ambition to create a unified great Balochistan and a leaning towards Marxism-Leninism. The Pakistani government claimed that BLA consisted primarily of Marri tribesmen and that it was led by the sons of Khair Baksh Marri, but this was denied by all tribal leaders who repeatedly claimed that they had no knowledge about the identity of BLA. Also, the Pakistani government has repeatedly accused the Indian government of providing support to the separatist movements. There is, however, no evidence confirming India’s involvement. The group attracted a lot of attention in 2000 after a series of attacks which BLA claimed responsibility for.
In November 2018, BLF and BLA announced that it had entered into a formal alliance under the name of BRAS, an umbrella group uniting armed separatist organizations seeking independence for the province of Baluchistan. BRA formally joined the new alliance in June 2019. With the establishment of BRAS, BLA ceased to exist as an independent entity in UCDP data.
