The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) on Thursday rejected claims that a detained woman presented during a press conference in Quetta was affiliated with the organisation, stating that she had “no connection, direct or indirect” to any of its military missions.
BLA spokesperson Jeeyand Baloch said the March 18 press conference addressed by Sarfaraz Bugti was a repetition of what he described as an “obsolete and failed state script.”
Speaking at the press conference, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said forces had arrested a “would-be” female suicide bomber in Khuzdar with the help of “human intelligence.”
He identified the woman as Laiba, also referred to as Farzana Zehri, and said her arrest had averted “major destruction.”
Jeeyand Baloch said the BLA “explicitly clarifies” that the woman was not associated with the organisation in any capacity, adding that such press briefings were part of a pattern in which civilians are allegedly presented after being forcibly disappeared and framed as “intelligence successes.”
The group said women’s participation in what it termed the Baloch national liberation movement had become an “undeniable reality” that had “shaken the very foundations of the occupying state structure.”
It alleged that the Pakistani state, “terrified of this conscious awakening,” had resorted to what it described as “low-level tactics” to suppress Baloch women.
It also accused state institutions of using “innocent civilians as pawns” after forcibly disappearing them, claiming that this pattern had been “exposed time and again.”
The group cited the case of Mahal Baloch, who it said was forcibly disappeared from Quetta on February 17, 2023, and later subjected to what it described as an “intense media trial” after being labelled a “suicide bomber.”
It added that despite “immense state pressure,” courts were eventually “forced to release her.”
The statement further claimed that whenever the Pakistani state faces “humiliation at the hands of the Sarmachars [Baloch fighters],” ordinary citizens and women are targeted to present what it called an “intelligence success.”
It described the current case as another attempt to divert attention from the “historic successes of Operation Herof” and what it termed the state’s “total military frustration.”
The BLA said the Baloch movement had reached a stage where “crude propaganda tactics have lost their impact,” adding: “We will continue our strikes with full force until the defense of our land and complete independence are achieved,” and warning that “the collaborators of the occupier” would be “held accountable in the court of history.”