Washington/Quetta ,13August (HS): The United States has once again designated the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and its suicide unit, the Majeed Brigade, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations—yet experts doubt the move will pack a real punch on the ground.

According to analysts, the decision is largely diplomatic theater. The BLA’s financial lifelines run through illicit smuggling and non-Western networks, well beyond the reach of American sanctions. With no political footprint in the West and no dependence on formal banking systems, the group is unlikely to feel the bite of travel bans or asset freezes.

The BLA has worn the terrorist label before—tagged by the UK in 2006 and by the U.S. in 2019—yet its militant operations have hardly slowed. The latest announcement comes amid a warm phase in U.S.–Pakistan relations, including fresh trade deals, tariff cuts on Pakistani exports, and potential American investment in Balochistan’s untapped oil reserves.

Political observers see a familiar pattern: Washington using terror designations not purely as counterterrorism tools, but as strategic bargaining chips in shifting geopolitical games. For a group that neither courts nor receives Western support, an FTO tag may be little more than a line on paper.

For Islamabad, however, it’s a public relations boost—supporting its claim that the BLA is an organized militant threat, not a grassroots movement. Still, in Balochistan’s rugged mountains and borderlands, the real contest—over territory, resources, and political control—will rage on, Washington’s blacklist or not.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar