Former Pakistani prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said that the involvement of educated and married women in suicide attacks indicates underlying failures within the country’s political and social system.
Speaking during a session of The Black Hole dialogue, Abbasi referred to Shari Baloch, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) female suicide bomber, who carried out a 2022 attack targeting Chinese nationals associated with the Confucius Institute in Karachi.
Abbasi said that if a woman who holds an MPhil degree, is married, has children and comes from an educated family chooses to become a suicide bomber, “there has to be a reason”, adding that it points to a problem within the system.
He said Pakistan had been unwilling to acknowledge the issue, arguing that it was a major problem that needed to be addressed. He also linked the issue to political representation and governance in Balochistan.
“When you deprive a nation of its right to representation and do not respect its opinion, it will not respect you either,” Abbasi said. He added that rather than focusing solely on who was responsible for individual incidents, authorities needed to examine how the country had reached the current situation and document the factors involved.
Shari Baloch, associated with the BLA’s Majeed Brigade, carried out a suicide bombing in April 2022 near the University of Karachi, targeting Chinese teachers affiliated with the Confucius Institute. She was the first woman publicly identified as a female suicide attacker affiliated with the BLA.
Since then, other women have reportedly been involved in attacks claimed by the group. In 2026, the BLA’s reported Operation Herof II included the participation of women associated with its suicide-bombing and other units in areas including Quetta, Gwadar, Nushki and Pasni.
The BLA has also publicly featured female fighters, including a woman identified by the group as Commander Shahnaz Baloch, alias Sadu, who appeared alongside other female fighters in a video published through the group’s media channels. In the video, she called on Baloch people to join the movement and issued threats against the Pakistani military.