SUMMARY

BRAS (Baluch Raji Ajohi Sangar: Baluch National Freedom Movement) was an umbrella group uniting armed separatist organizations seeking independence for the province of Baluchistan in western Pakistan. BRAS consisted of BLF, BLA, and BRA. The group’s area of operation was the southern part of the province along the Arabian Sea and the Iranian border.

Despite being rich in natural resources, Baluchistan is among the poorest regions in Pakistan. This, together with the growing influx of mainly Punjabi immigrants resulted in a widespread sense of increasing economic and political marginalization among the ethnic Baluch. Subsequently, 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.

BRAS was established in November 2018 – when BLF and BLA announced that it had entered into a formal alliance. The leader of the new movement was Dr. Allah Nazer – head of BLF. BRA formally joined the new alliance in June 2019. The reason behind the merger was to strengthen the weakening Baluch-separatist movement by allowing the groups to share and pool weapons and equipment, human resources, and intelligence. The establishment of BRAS marked itself as the first alliance between the Baluch-separatist organizations.

The ideology of BRAS was to establish an independent Baluch state, free from outside powers. The group’s intended targets were military and paramilitary security forces, as well as Chinese workers in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), who they believed were taking resources that belonged to the people of Baluch.