BLA Highly Promotes Female Terrorists, Threatens to Target China
On June 25, 2023, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) media released photographs of seven female members of the Majid Brigade, claiming that “Today, hundreds of Fidayee (Fidayee), including Baloch women, are ready to wreak havoc on the enemy in the Majid Brigade. Pakistan and China should immediately withdraw from Balochistan or face severe attacks.” This is the first time the BLA has promoted and threatened by posting photos of multiple female members. On June 24, a female member of the Majeed Brigade carried out a suicide bomb attack on a police vehicle in Turbat, Balochistan, killing one police officer and injuring three others. The BLA said on the same day that the attacker, named as Sumaiya Qalandarani, 25, is the daughter-in-law of Aslam Baloch, a senior BLA member, whose fiancé had carried out a suicide attack on Chinese nationals in Balochistan in 2018, injuring three Chinese engineers. This is the second terrorist attack by highly educated Baloch women after Shari Baloch, the female attacker at the Confucius Institute of the University of Karachi in April 2022.There has been intensive publicity in the BLA-owned media about the above female members, including Shari Baloch.
The above reflects substantial progress in the BLA’s strategy of recruiting from Baloch women. Since women are more stealthy in carrying out terrorist attacks and women can create greater incentives for the Baloch community in the case of suicide attacks launched by extremists, the BLA may be counting on this to mobilize more people and resources to join the separatist movement. This would pose a serious threat to the security of my institutions and personnel in Pakistan.
Summaiya Qalandrani, a journalist who joined the BLA seven years ago and joined the Majid Brigade four years ago, went through four years of rigorous training and five years of media work within the BLA’s media department, is a highly educated woman, according to the BLA-owned media. Summaiya Qalandrani, a resident of Tutak, Khuzdar, disappeared on February 18, 2011, when her grandfather, uncle and several cousins disappeared in Tutak. S ummaiya Qalandrani (daughter of Ubaid Qalandrani) is the fiancée of Rehan Baloch, a “pre-sacrificer” and daughter-in-law of Aslam Baloch, a senior member of the BLA.
Intensive Advocacy Conducted by BLA
On June 24, BLA-related media, including its webpage, newly registered Twitter account, etc., intensively publicized the above.On June 25, Baloch separatists launched a massive online memorial to the woman attacker on social media, with the main hashtag spreading on social media as “# SumaiyaTheLegend”. The discussion on the topic spread widely on Twitter and Tik Tok, where it had a large volume of discussion.
BLA Highly Promotes Female Terrorists, Threatens to Target China