A former member of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) on Friday claimed that the banned militant group brainwashed average citizens into thinking a certain way about Balochistan and resorting to terrorist activities.

In 2024, the banned BLA emerged as a key perpetrator of terrorist violence in Pakistan. According to the Pakistan Security Report 2024, while the attacks by the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) killed about 300 people during the year, BLA-orchestrated attacks caused 225 fatalities.

The report documented a disturbing rise in both the frequency and intensity of terrorist attacks in the country, sparking fears that the security landscape could regress to pre-2014 levels if the current trajectory persists.

Today, the ex-BLA member Najibullah alias Darwish, who had surrendered alongside his partners, held a press conference in Quetta, talking about why he chose to part ways with the BLA.

He was flanked by his partners, Planning and Development Minis­ter Mir Zahoor Ahmed Buledi, Deputy Inspector General Quetta Aetzaz Ahmed Goraya, and other government higher-ups.

Speaking about the BLA’s methods, he said that the group’s “training of the mind” and literature played a huge role in brainwashing recruits from various parts of Balochistan.

“There are two kinds of training conducted by [the BLA]: one is of the body and the other is of the mind,” Najibullah said.

“The body’s training is related to handling weapons or when you wake up for exercises in the morning, just like how the army trains, but the training of the mind is the most important one.”

He alleged that the recruits were taught “the Marxist perspective and examples of leaders from across the globe, such as Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh and Bhagat Singh”.

“The literature plays a very significant role in radicalising the youth. When a young person, an average citizen, from Makran, Kalat, Khuzdar, Hub — or wherever they are coming from — read literature like this, their minds are moulded accordingly.”

Najibullah said that he became involved with separatism in 2005 after discussing the situation in Balochistan with his friend, who was a commander with the Baloch Liberation Front.

“After he was killed, I joined the Baloch Republican Party,” he said. “I have an interest in politics. I eventually became a member of the party’s central committee.”

He added that after being associated with the outlawed group for 19 years, he decided to quit and surrender himself after witnessing “the BLA’s reality”.

“I was uneducated and they brainwashed me to plot against Pakistan,” he said, adding that he was between 14 and 15 years old at the time.

“In these groups, our goal was to secede from Pakistan and ensure that the Baloch youth opposed the state,” he added. “Throughout my time in these groups, this was also my goal.”

Najibullah said that he had been in contact with intelligence agents from foreign nations, however, expressed that they had little interest in Baloch independence.

“These agents said that they were not interested in our independence as much as they were in making Pakistan unstable,” he explained. “They used us for their own aims.”

He also criticised the leaders of other Baloch separatist groups, stating that they “live lives of luxury abroad”.

“The leaders of most groups are living abroad,” he said. “Dr Lanzar’s son is in Malaysia, Athar Nadeem’s son is in France and Sammi Deen Baloch’s brother is working in Oman.

“Meanwhile, the soldiers in the hills do not even have two pieces of bread to eat,” he stated.

Najibullah further said that operatives are unable to receive medical care if they are injured in fighting, while the families of Baloch separatist leaders have the best medical care available.

“Is this really a struggle for freedom?” he asked. “If we question our leaders, we either get killed or arrested in some neighbouring country like I was. This made my will to leave even stronger and try to peacefully solve my people’s issues within the state’s bounds.”

Najibullah urged his “friends in the mountains” to not be a part of attempts to destabilise the state. “These years are the most important of your life. I urge you not to be a part of this proxy and spend a peaceful life in the state.”

The rise in militancy has caused significant foreign investment blockages in the country. National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) has said that twenty Chinese citizens have been killed and 34 injured in terrorist attacks in the country since 2021.

The October airport bombing that killed two Chinese engineers returning to work on a project after a holiday in Thailand was the latest in a string of high-profile attacks on Beijing’s interests in Pakistan.

The attack was claimed by the banned outfit BLA. Police registered a first information report against leaders of the BLA and others three days after the incident.