New York, Aug 12: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has designated the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its front organisation, The Majeed Brigade (TMB), as foreign terrorist organisations (FTO).
Making the announcement on Monday, he said that the MTB was also being added as an alias to BTA’s “previous Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) designation”. “Today’s action taken by the Department of State demonstrates the Trump Administration’s commitment to countering terrorism”, he said.
“Terrorist designations play a critical role in our fight against this scourge and are an effective way to curtail support for terrorist activities”, he said. He said that the BLA, which was designated as an SDGT in 2019, has since claimed responsibility for terrorist activities, including those by the MTB.
He cited the March hijacking of the Jaffar Express train travelling from Quetta to Peshawar, during which 31 civilians and security personnel were killed, and more than 300 passengers were held hostage. The announcement coincided with Pakistan military chief Asim Munir’s visit to the US.
His visit was ostensibly to attend a farewell event for US General Michael Kurilla, who was leaving the post of commander of the Central Command (CENTCOM), which covers Pakistan, in addition to the Middle East and Central Asia.
According to the Pentagon, an event was held in Tampa, Florida, on Friday to bid Kurilla farewell and welcome his successor Admiral Brad Cooper. Public schedules for the Departments of Defence and State, and the White House did not list any meetings for him with officials in Washington Friday through Thursday.
The FTO designation bans material or financial support for the organisations, freezes their assets, and restricts the travel of their members. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) makes the SDGT designation which blocks the group’s assets within the US and prohibits transactions with it.
Balochs are fighting for basic human rights in Pakistan, battling enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and systematic repression. Many Baloch leaders are currently languishing behind bars without any proven crime or fair trial, denied bail and often held under fabricated or blanket preventive detention laws, as per local media reports.
In several cases, those involving Baloch leaders, courts have repeatedly denied bail, while families and lawyers are routinely blocked from accessing detainees despite court orders to the contrary.
IANS