The recent suicide attack in Balochistan by female bombers Asifa Mengal and Hawa Khatun has sent shockwaves through the region, not just for violence itself but for wide-ranging reasons that have worsened the situation in the strategic province.
The early February attacks, perpetrated with coordination, have raised a string of concerns about the ability of terror groups like Balochistan Liberation Army and its affiliated groups to stage such attacks. Since the attacks, discussions have also focused on the government’s lack of vigor and farsightedness in finding a political solution to the crisis.
Speaking of this security expert and author Ayesha Siddiqa said “the most significant development of the very recent attack is not that women were suicide bombers. There were women who were engaged in fighting as well.”
On the other end of the spectrum, analysts are questioning the link between militancy and human rights organizations like Baloch Yakjehti Committee with some seeing a devastating exposure of a sophisticated “Political Terror Network.”
US Condemns Balochistan Attacks, Reaffirms Support for Stability in Pakistan
For example, commentators point out that for months Asifa Mengal was championed by the BYC and figures like Mahrang Baloch as a victim of “enforced disappearance.” Now, her transition from a “missing person” to a suicide bomber has unmasked a dangerous pipeline connecting political activism to militancy.
People familiar with the Committee’s work say the process begins in the weekly “Study Circles” organized by the BYC. Under the guise of human rights advocacy, young Baloch women are subjected to intense psychological conditioning. They are fed a narrative of “Punjabi occupation” and told that their only path to dignity is through “sacrifice.”
It is pointed out that ready-made emotional stories are used as psychological triggers, often presenting Shari Baloch (the University of Karachi suicide bomber) as a martyr to be emulated. Once the radicalization is complete, these women are moved to the mountains. The BYC then shifts its role from “mentor” to “advocate,” launching social media campaigns claiming these women have been “abducted” by Pakistani intelligence agencies.
Charge d’Affaires Natalie Baker Condemns Terrorist Attacks in Balochistan
The United States strongly condemns January 31 attacks and acts of terrorist violence against security personnel and civilians in Balochistan, claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army, a U.S.-designated…
— U.S. Embassy Islamabad (@usembislamabad) February 1, 2026
The case of Asifa Mengal is a textbook example of this deception. Her name was featured on official BYC posters and social media posts by prominent activists like Sammi Deen Baloch, Naeema Zehri, and human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari (recently sentenced for anti-state activities). Political leaders like Akhtar Mengal echoed these claims, accusing the state of illegal detentions.
However, the silence following her suicide attack has been deafening. The very voices that once screamed for her “recovery” are now silent, putting their own credibility and future at stake.
Amid the spectacle of violence, Mahrang Baloch, the incarcerated leader of BYC, who has won international awards, has issued no statement. Critics point out that other activists and some politicians, who claim to struggle for the rights of the Baloch people, have remained mute.
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Besides destroying lives and livelihoods and delaying socioeconomic uplift through investment, the situation raises doubts about claims on enforced disappearances, although there have been several genuine cases to speak up for over many years.
Are the “missing persons” lists rosters of militants undergoing training in the mountains?
In her defense, supporters of Mahrang Baloch cite her generic statements in which she says she is opposed to violence.
Pakistani security officials point to the role of BYC leadership. Dr. Mahrang Baloch is the daughter of a high-ranking BLA member, Abdul Gaffar Langove.
Officials argue that Mahrang’s actions consistently align with BLA interests. During the Jaffar Express hijacking in March 2025, where 33 terrorists were killed by security forces, Mahrang immediately arrived to claim the bodies, insisting they were “missing persons” rather than active combatants.
Director General of military’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations has repeatedly alleged that the BYC serves as a “proxy” and “political front” for banned outfits, bridging the gap between urban centers and militant camps.
“Those who carry out these attacks have nothing to do with Baloch norms. They are being used as pawns in a foreign-funded game to destabilize Pakistan,” Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said recently, referring to accusations that Afghanistan and India are behind terror attacks in Balochistan.
Officials raise the question if Bashir Zeb, leading the militant wing and Mahrang Baloch, leading the political wing are working as a network to devastate the Balochs.
The most stinging criticism of Mahrang Baloch has been her silence on the killing of civilians in BLA’s terror attacks on Balochistan’s cities and security forces of Pakistan.
While many Pakistanis support equal rights and economic opportunity for all Balochs, such silence threatens to discredit BYC, Baloch nationalist leaders and its leaders.
A piece in The Diplomat looked at some of the reasons that might have compelled Mahrang Baloch’s silence over militant killings including people’s support for BLA’s activities against the state make it hard for the BYC to condemn Baloch insurgency.
But doesn’t that highlight a glaring duplicity on part of a human rights advocacy organization? A commentator recently asked. It’s like condemning injustice at one place and turning a blind eye to atrocities at another place.
The BYC’s silence not only threatens to undermine the organization’s credibility for good but also exposes it to interpretation that it is complicit in BLA’s terror, which makes unrealistic promises of freedom and imposes death and destruction on the local people.
بلوچستان کے حقوق کے لئے آئین کے اندر رہ کر پرامن جدوجہد کرنا بالکل جائز ہے لیکن حقوق کے نام پر عورتوں اور بچوں کو قتل کرنا دہشت گردی ہے پاکستان،ایران اور افغانستان کو توڑ کرآزاد بلوچستان بنانا ناممکن ہے بنگلہ دیش سے سبق سیکھیں بھارت نے 1971 میں انکی مدد کی لیکن آج دونوں دشمن ہیں pic.twitter.com/5TwPH42PVJ
— Hamid Mir حامد میر (@HamidMirPAK) February 3, 2026
Prominent journalist Hamid Mir, a longtime critic of enforced disappearances and advocate for Baloch rights, noted in a post that “it is absolutely lawful to struggle for the rights of the Baloch people within the purview of Constitution but killing women and children in the name of rights is terrorism. It is impossible to carve out an independent Balochistan by breaking Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. A lesson can be learned from Bangladesh. India aided them in 1971 but now the two countries are rivals.”
Clearly, the BYC needs support and backing of Pakistani national human rights organizations to air grievances of the Baloch people. But by choosing to maintain its inexplicable silence over terror attacks, it risks losing support in the mainstream community.
As for the government, critics ask where the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is because a candid admission of state blunders and pledge to rightful development of the Baloch people is imperative to resolve the crisis viably.
Kiran Asim is a writer who covers the U.S., Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East. Her reports and analyses look at the geostrategic issues and contemporary developments and their economic and political implications. She also writes about society and education.
