Indian proxies in Pakistan

India seeks to damage Pakistan as it has not reconciled with the partition of the sub-continent. Therefore, it is busy in hatching conspiracies to destabilise Pakistan through all means available, including its proxies. Besides using terror outfits, India has subjected Pakistan to fifth generation and hybrid warfare as well but for this article, I will focus on the proxies operating in Balochistan alone.
After the fall of the Taliban, RAW started using Afghan soil in close coordination with the National Directorate of Security (NDS) to carryout terrorist activities inside Pakistan. India started funding and arming banned outfits like TTP, JuH, IS(K) and Baloch proxies for terrorism in FATA, KP and Balochistan. With CPEC, India stepped up its activities and started fueling insurgency from its consulates at Jalalabad Kandahar, Herat in Afghanistan and Zahidan in Iran. The Indian proxies in Balochistan include the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), Balochistan Republican Army (BRA) and Lashkar-e-Balochistan.
After independence Balochistan People’s Liberation Front (BPLF) stated an insurgency against the state with the active support of Afghanistan and India. In 1975 the insurgents of BPLF were shifted to Afghanistan and their terrorist activities were coordinated by Khadamat-e-Aetlaat-e-Dawlti (KHAD). India was running 87 terrorist training camps for its proxies and 66 camps were in Afghanistan and 21 terrorist camps in Indian Rajasthan. In 2018 India unified the BLA, BLF, BRA into the Baloch Raaji Sangar (BRAS) under Allah Nazar for coordinated terrorist activity under RAW.
In August 2020, RAW was instrumental in the unification of TTP, JuA and HuA and was also trying to build a terrorist consortium of TTP, BLA, BLF and BRA. Indian consulates in Afghanistan became hub of terrorist activities. Recently there has been an uptick in terrorist activities in Balochistan and Karachi. Majority of the attacks were claimed by the BLA. The group was behind the attacks on Chinese engineers working on the Saindak project, Chinese consulate in Karachi, PC Gwadar and stock exchange in Karachi. BLA again came to prominence with the recent suicide bombing that killed three Chinese citizens in Karachi,
The so called Majeed brigade was formed by RAW in 2011 as a suicide squad of BLA. The Majeed brigade was also headed for some time by Aslam Achu. They also claimed their involvement in the recent terrorist attacks against the Frontier Crops (FC) in Naushki and Panjgur. Earlier, these terrorist organisations used Afghan soil at free will with the support of RAW and NDS. Now, they are using Iranian soil for attack inside Balochistan. Apparently, Iranian security forces are taking a lenient policy or ignoring the terrorists who cross the border.
Balochistan has been the focus of attention and foreign interference due to its geo-strategic significance. The Gwadar port lies at the opening of Strait of Hormuz through which 40 percent of the world’s oil passes. Due to changing political and geo-economic environments, some powers are trying their best to deter the development of Balochistan (Gwadar) to safeguard their own interest.
Firstly, Iran is not happy with the development of the Gwadar deep sea port as it has downgraded the importance of its Chahbahar port. In the past Afghanistan had been raising the issue of so called Durand Line and actively supported and funded insurgency in Balochistan. The Indian objective is disturbing peace in Balochistan by not allowing the development of the Gwadar port. India is set with the presence of China close to its Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC).
India has created a dedicated cell under the direct supervision of Modi and the mission is to sabotage CPEC through Balochistan. A private militia of 700 men has been raised under this cell to target CPEC. It used the Afghan soil as pressure point against Pakistan. The US too is concerned about the Chinese presence at Gwadar. It considers China a strategic adversary and is therefore using all available means to contain China, specially through India. Terrorists have foreign support to undermine and destabilise Pakistan and prevent Gwadar from becoming one of the major deep sea port in the region.
The strength of terrorists operating in Balochistan is not more than two to three hundred. Thousands insurgents have surrendered in the past at their own and a reconciliation process is underway. The Pakistan army is playing pivotal role for ensuring durable peace and sustainable socio-economic development of Balochistan.

The writer is a retired brigadier and freelance columnist. He tweets @MasudAKhan6.

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