The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) on Thursday released a profile of Haroon Rasheed Buzdar, a patrol commander who it said was killed during an operation in Sibi’s Lehri area on September 20.
The BLA’s media wing, Hakkal, identified Buzdar as alias Mubarak, son of Abdul Rasheed Buzdar, from Chanala in Koh-e-Sulaiman, Dera Ghazi Khan. He held a BS degree in psychology from the International Islamic University in Islamabad, according to the profile.
The BLA said Buzdar became politically active during his student years, spending three years with the Baloch Students Organisation-Azad (BSO-Azad) and another three with the Baloch National Movement (BNM).
“He played a historic role in encouraging Baloch youth in various areas of Dera Ghazi Khan and Koh-e-Suleiman to pursue national liberation and in providing them with mental and ideological training,” the statement said.
Buzdar joined the BLA as an urban guerrilla fighter in 2022 and worked on the urban front for approximately one year, the group said, adding that he moved to the Bolan mountain front in October 2023 and participated in organisational activities and armed operations.
The BLA said he applied his political experience and academic knowledge to his command role and served as a frontline commander in several operations, including “Operation Herof”. It added that he was subsequently given patrol command responsibilities in recognition of his combat abilities and performance.
His duties on the Chamalang and Kahan fronts included organisational expansion, operational planning and military activities, according to the statement.
Buzdar also continued writing alongside his activities, the profile said, publishing articles on the Baloch movement and other subjects under the pen name Wahag Buzdar.
The BLA paid tribute to him as a “resistance fighter” in what it called the struggle to “restore the Baloch national state”.