The Baloch Continuum – OpEd

The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) a civil right association in Balochistan, part of Pakistan is actively involved in anti-state activism. Although the BYC claims to be a non-violent political entity, advocating for the rights and justice in Balochistan, this movement has been directly confronted by the Pakistani authorities as a proxy of separatists’ militant and criminal smuggler groups such as the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) criminal smuggler organizations. BLA is a separatist militant group in Balochistan which wants instability in Pakistan. This group has been engaged in violent operations targeting military and government, as well as, the Chinese employees regarding the CPEC projects in the province. The BLA is a terrorist organization according to Pakistan and has the status of Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) given by the United States.

While analyzing the discourse of Pakistani authorities, especially through the statements by the military’s media wing Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) which has made it clear that the BYC is acting as a proxy for those militant organizations – with the BLA and along with smuggler groups at the back front financing them. It’s always ironic that these militant insurgent groups never attack the cargo getting smuggled through the border areas, and direct their efforts only in destabilizing the state infrastructure. The authorities have stated that the action and demonstrations of the BYC are beneficial to the insurgent movement because they contribute to anti-state propaganda. The BYC is seen as an organization as part of an insurgency movement.

The BYC receives funding from mafia-style groups especially from areas near the border of Balochistan and many groups are affiliated with the corrupt officials or political parties. There is often a blur between mafia style groups, terrorist groups, select political institutions, and political parties. In this case, they hold a lot of force as well as have an ability to manipulate the prison system. These groups include: drug trafficking mafias concerning oneself with the transportation of opium, heroin, and other banned substances, with connections to the Afghan drug mafia. The province where smuggling is most commonly practiced is Balochistan, which also generates most of the proceeds from this activity. Overwhelming majority of instances of human smuggling into and out of Pakistan take place in Balochistan frontier. Secondly, human trafficking networks continued their activities in smuggling people, especially Afghani and Iranian migrants through the Balochistan province to rest of the Pakistan or other countries. In the same manner weapon trafficking rings exist to provide illicit arms and ammunition in Pakistan to these activist and militant groups, in addition to that fuel trafficking rings smuggle subsidized Iranian fuel into Pakistan taking advantage of the difference in fuel prices than channel the revenue collected in financing these anti-state activist groups. In the same regard the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) the United Baloch Army (UBA) which is a faction of the BLA having similar charter of releasing Balochistan from the Pakistani soil and Balochistan Republican Army (BRA) is believed to be enjoying external support. Further, and the terrorist group, Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), affiliated to ISIS has been attacking in Balochistan. These groups work hand in hand for the course of their own interests with intertwining affairs that are shaped by the local, regional and global factors.

Indian intervention in Balochistan is done through cross border funding and supporting anti-state activists and militant groups. For this purpose, India supports groups like the BLA and other separatist groups’ financially as well as in terms of logistics to further its agenda of dismantling Pakistan. This support includes not only financial aid in the form of funding the activities of these organizations but also help in their setup and providing equipment to these groups, which has contributed to the further instability of the region. This brings a geopolitical aspect of the conflict whereby the interests of various geographical and political entities are crucial in motivating the insurgency and terrorism in Balochistan.

These mafia-style criminal smuggler groups wield significant power over the law enforcement processes. Because of that influence, there are gang-controlled areas, making it harder for the law enforcement to enter. Mafia-style groups and criminal networks alike engage in activities such as racketeering, extortion and kidnapping. Local criminals also cooperate with foreign criminals in transnational criminal markets such as heroin and human trafficking, and Baloch insurgents are believed to have multiple transnational links.

These activist groups are in close association with the terrorist groups as well as the organized criminal bodies and the latter helps in funding, logistics, mobility and acquisition of weapons for the former. Both share some aspects in them in spite of the differing principles of outlook. For these anti-state activists to thrive, mostly they need to have strong financial support, which in this case, is gotten mostly through criminal racketeering and terrorism. Criminals therefore unlike terrorists have no ideological leaning but they support the terrorist organizations financially because they work hand in hand for monetary benefits.

Additionally, nearly all militant activist and terror groups possess media arms that help in the spreading of their message especially in a post-terrorist attack environment. These two entities require each other’s services in the pursuit of their objectives. They both share common ground when it comes to money from criminal smugglers. Their major area of contact is commerce. The factors that underpin this relationship include globalization, and information revolution. Another critical aspect in the working of a terrorist organization is to look for media highlight and coverage.

It is quite evident to note that crime and terrorism are interrelated as the two concepts are interlinked. No activist and terrorist group can carry out its acts without the realization of certain amounts of funding. Due to their daily operational needs, they have to engage with smugglers and the local organized criminal groups. Employment of such criminals assists terrorist groups to function and execute their terrorist acts efficiently.

Therefore, Pakistan’s policy makers are working for changing the existing laws, increasing the tax net to remove the parallel black economy and clamp down heavily on anti-terrorism financing operations. One of the alliance partner employs terror tactics for operational necessity and the other employs criminal activities for similar necessity. This situation aligns the opponents of society and pinpoints organized criminals and terrorists and as similar.