It's President Donald Trump's grand gesture to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan just before his visit to America. The US State Department, in an obvious softening towards Pakistan, has designated the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).
This move, which comes on the eve of Khan's visit to America, aims to help solict support for the US's peace bid with the Taliban. For Pakistan, it is a win on the international stage and one that gives credibility to their badge of “victim” of terror.
Khan, who will be travelling to America to meet Trump for the first time, is believed to have made it clear that this was the one condition for his travel. The Baloch cause shot into prominence when a plane with a banner "Justice for Balochistan", asking for enquiries into enforced disappearance of Baloch activists in Pakistan, flew across the sky during the Pakistan-Afghanistan match. This rather public protest—embarrassing for Pakistan—is said to have particularly infuriated the Pakistani establishment. There was no way Khan was not watching the match.
“The inscription of the BLA on the list is an obvious sop to Imran Khan before his visit,” said Rana Banerji, security expert. “The US has given into Pakistan pressure.”
Described as “an armed separatist group that targets security forces and civilians, mainly in ethnic Baloch areas of Pakistan”, the state department release states that “BLA has carried out several terrorist attacks in the past year, including a suicide attack in August 2018 that targeted Chinese engineers in Balochistan, a November 2018 attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi, and a May 2019 attack against a luxury hotel in Gwadar, Balochistan.”
The Baloch resistance in Pakistan has a long and bloody history. Pakistan claims that it is India-supported—a RAW plot, one that thickened with Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioning the B-word in his Republic Day speech in 2016. The arrest of Kulbhushan Jadhav has been linked to the Baloch cause by Pakistan. For its part, India has denied any links. Despite the mention of Balochistan, India has done little diplomatically to help the Baloch cause. An asylum request by Brahumdagh Khan Bugti, the founder and leader of Baloch Republican Party in Switzerland is yet to be processed. Nor has India chosen to bring up the brutal suppression on Baloch activists on an international forum.
The BLA, however, has continued to try and raise its cause internationally. The sky banner was an attempt to grab eyeballs across the world. In Pakistan, it has chosen to hit where it hurts. Most targets are designed to make investment in Balochistan difficult and certainly much more costly. The progress of CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) that cuts through Balochistan has been greatly slowed down due to these activities. Ironically, the US that opposes the BRI, has chosen to proscribe the BLA for hindering its progress.
The proscribing of the BLA as an SDGT ensures that “their property and interests in property subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them”, a state department press release stated. The state department has also included Hezbollah operative Husain Ali Hazzima as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
For Trump, getting Pakistan on its side is essential, especially in the Afghanistan context. Trump is keen to exit Aghanistan fast, but needs Pakistan to put pressure on the Taliban to agree to a peace deal. So far, despite seven rounds of talks in Doha, both sides are no closer to signing a peace agreement. Pakistan, however, has welcomed the designation by the US Administration of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) as Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). “BLA remains a proscribed entity in Pakistan since 2006 and in recent times has carried out several terrorist attacks in the country," a statement from Pakistani government said.
