Gwadar Port Complex attack

• Context (IE): Majeed Brigade of the separatist group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for Gwadar Port complex attack in Pakistan.

Balochistan Context

• Balochistan chiefdoms, including Ahmed Yar Khan, the chief of Kalat, hoped to secure an independent state, but after Pakistan invaded Kalat in 1948, he was forced to accede.
• This triggered an ongoing insurgency fuelled by persisting economic disaffection, political disenfranchisement, and repression by Pakistan.
• Gwadar Port as Symbol of economic injustice: Despite rampant unemployment in the province, engineers and technical specialists were hired from Punjab, Sindh, and even China.

Majeed Brigade

• National Awami Party in Balochistan faced repression (1972) by then-Pakistani PM Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
• Majeed Langove Senior’s failed assassination attempt in 1974 gathered him martyrdom in Balochistan. His younger brother also followed the struggle.
• Majeed Langove brothers were raised to near-mythical status.
• Later, Aslam Achu, a BLA leader, decided to establish a suicide squad named ‘Majeed Brigade’.
• Other attacks: Chinese Consulate in Karachi (2018), the Gwadar Pearl Continental Hotel (2019), and the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi (2020).

For more details, visit > Baloch insurgency