In a disturbing revelation, security forces have arrested Dr. Usman Qazi, a lecturer at BUITEMS (Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences), as the alleged mastermind of a major BLA-linked terror plot aimed at sabotaging Pakistan’s Independence Day celebrations.
The arrest followed the capture of a suicide bomber in Quetta on August 11, whose interrogation led investigators to Dr. Qazi. According to officials, Qazi confessed to playing a key role in planning the 2024 Quetta railway station attack, as well as training dozens of suicide bombers under the banner of the banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).
By August 12, security forces had uncovered a chilling arsenal: 32 suicide bombers and 4 vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs), all primed to strike in a coordinated assault meant to turn August 14 into a national tragedy. The swift action of counterterrorism units averted what could have been one of the deadliest days in Balochistan’s history.
“A teacher who should have empowered minds instead handed out suicide vests,” a senior security official remarked. “This is not just betrayal, it is the weaponisation of education against the state.”
Academic Subversion and the Radicalisation Pipeline
Dr. Qazi’s case is not isolated. In July, Sufyan Kurd, once chairman of the Baloch Students Council at UMT Lahore and a state-sponsored student, was identified as a senior commander of the BLA. Kurd was killed during Operation Pehrud Cleanser, a high-intensity counter-terror campaign in Nushki that followed a deadly bus attack in Kalat. Intelligence confirmed Kurd’s deep ties with the India-backed Fitna al-Hindustan (FAH) network, exposing once again how academic and student platforms are exploited for militancy.
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Militant outfits like the BLA have long embedded themselves in educational institutions, manipulating young minds through narratives of “freedom” and “national rights” — terms strategically hijacked to mask indoctrination and recruitment. Student hostels, unions, and even lecture halls have become soft targets for radical infiltration, where impressionable youth are groomed with victimhood, alienation, and an illusion of heroic resistance.
Weaponising Children, Silencing Women
Beyond ideological warfare, the BLA’s tactics show an appalling descent into child exploitation and gendered coercion. Intelligence sources confirm that the group intentionally targets young, impoverished Baloch boys, coercing them into drug addiction and militant indoctrination. These boys are later dispatched for high-risk missions, including suicide bombings and arms smuggling.
In parallel, Baloch women are subjected to blackmail through covertly recorded videos, used to force their compliance or silence in the face of exploitation. While the BLA cloaks these operations in slogans of liberation, its reality is a sustained assault on the social and moral fabric of Baloch society.
Adding to the horror, “combat doping kits,” medical packs filled with amphetamines, painkillers, and sedatives, have been recovered from BLA hideouts in Nushki. These kits, used to numb fighters’ fear and pain, show how the BLA is literally chemically conditioning its militants for battle.
A Moment of Reckoning for Balochistan
As Pakistan continues to expose and dismantle these terror networks, the people of Balochistan face a critical choice: to stand with those who educate, empower, and uplift — or those who weaponise youth and betray the very land they claim to defend.
The state has signaled its resolve. Now, society must do the same.
