BLA Condemns US Labeling of Majeed Brigade as FTO, Terms It a ‘Colonial Narrative

On Friday, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) criticized the recent action of the United States to label its special group, the Majeed Brigade, as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO). The organization called the action a "deviation from ground realities" and "an implicit endorsement of the colonial narrative" by an international power.

We consider this decision with no shock and with no feeling of extra burden. Baloch Liberation Army is a resistance movement, operative only against the military occupation of the occupying state, and dedicated to the liberation of its occupied motherland," BLA spokesman Jeeyand Baloch said in a statement posted on X by multiple Baloch leaders and journalists, including Bahot Baloch.

Jeeyand claimed that Pakistan took over Balochistan by force in 1948, and BLA is the extension of the resistance struggle launched on that very day. He referred to the organisation as the "armed embodiment of Baloch national pride" which does not need "external validation" or any kind of international endorsement.

The charges laid by the US are the same as the narrative that has been used by Pakistan as propaganda for decades. Targeting civilians is not in our manifesto. Simultaneously, we clarify that we are not under any compulsion to explain the character of our struggle to anyone and will never adjust to any narrative that is in state interests," the statement further said.

Jeeyand reiterated that all BLA operations are directed against the Pakistani Army, Frontier Corps, intelligence networks, death squads, and their Baloch collaborator gangs in Balochistan. He emphasized that the fight is for their motherland—the homeland of their forefathers occupied by Pakistan by force. The spokesperson made it clear that the BLA does not resent the people of Pakistan or any superpower, declaring that their weapons are pointed only against the "occupier, whoever that is, and will continue to be so until the occupation ceases."

He emphasized that the BLA operates under the laws of war under international humanitarian law, namely Common Article III of the Geneva Conventions. As an organised armed force, it abides by strict codes of discipline that safeguard combatants and civilians. Jeeyand further supplemented that non-state struggle movements across the globe have traditionally been accorded moral, legal, and political acceptability under comparable constructs.

The spokesman accused the US move as corresponding with increasing international interest in Balochistan's natural resources. He charged that Pakistan is auctioning these resources to international companies, towards making the province a silent economic colony.

"When national resistance gets in the way of these schemes, it is no wonder to find such resistance being branded illegal on an international level," Jeeyand said.

He invited all the world to come to Balochistan, visit mass graves where young Baloch are buried, and meet mothers who have had their sons missing for decades. He asked observers to witness cities where free speech is curtailed and villages which are under night-time military raids, and then go on and determine if organized resistance against such repression is "terrorism or defence of human dignity."

Jeeyand pointed out that the BLA is a "disciplined resistance movement" based on a national vision while respectfully interacting with the world. Pakistan, on the other hand, has undermined the very principles on which civilised states are founded, repeatedly breaching agreements, promises, and trust for its own designs, rendering it an "unreliable state."

The statement ended with an assurance that the BLA will never falter from its "ideological, military or revolutionary" obligations.

We will not let state propaganda, international branding, or global decisions stand in our way. Our struggle will go on until Baloch national liberation and sovereignty are attained," it declared.