The United States, the United Kingdom, and France have together stopped an attempt made by Pakistan and China at the United Nations to impose sanctions on the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its special fighting wing, the Majeed Brigade.

The proposal, placed under the framework of the United Nations 1267 sanctions regime, was designed to treat these Baloch groups in the same way as organisations linked with Al-Qaeda and ISIL. However, the Western nations put a brake on the effort by placing it on a “technical hold” for six months, making it clear that they found no solid proof connecting these organisations to the global terror networks that the regime was originally created to control.

This was a significant moment because it came just weeks after Washington, despite its warming ties with Islamabad, had already declared both the BLA and the Majeed Brigade as Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTOs). The difference between how the U.S. dealt with the groups in its domestic law and how it acted at the UN showed the complicated and often contradictory nature of international politics. While the U.S. wanted to appear supportive of Pakistan at a bilateral level, it was not ready to push the same narrative at the world stage without evidence.

The UN 1267 regime, first adopted in 1999, was meant to target organisations and individuals connected to Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and ISIL. Once a person or group is listed under this regime, they face restrictions such as travel bans, freezing of financial assets, and denial of access to weapons. This is a serious international tool designed to squeeze support networks of violent groups and limit their global reach.

Pakistan and China had jointly applied to bring the BLA and Majeed Brigade under this list. Their argument was based on the claim that these groups, along with ISIL-K (Khorasan), Al-Qaeda, and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), were carrying out cross-border attacks from Afghanistan. Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmed, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, stressed in his address on 17th September that terrorism from Afghan soil remained the country’s biggest national security danger. He urged the Taliban-led government in Kabul to stand by its promises on counterterrorism and said, “We hope the Council will act swiftly on this listing to curb their terrorist activities.”

Yet, Islamabad’s hope of gaining international backing was blocked by its own partners in the West. For the next half year at least, the country’s effort to paint its Baloch opponents as part of a global terror network has been effectively stopped. The message was loud: allegations cannot replace evidence, and international decisions at the UN demand a far stronger basis than the political interests of two states.

Pakistan’s Balochistan Dilemma

Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan in terms of land area. It carries huge importance because of its geographic location and its natural wealth. The province is full of valuable resources such as oil, gas, coal, and minerals. But in spite of this, the people of Balochistan live in deep poverty, while the benefits of the province’s wealth are diverted elsewhere, mostly to Punjab, which remains the political and economic hub of Pakistan.

The relationship between Balochistan and the Pakistani state has been full of conflict. Since 1948, when the former Baloch chiefdoms were forcibly absorbed into the new Islamic Republic, the province has seen repeated uprisings. To date, there have been five major Baloch “wars of independence.” Each time, the uprisings were crushed with heavy force. Accounts of arbitrary arrests, torture, executions, and kidnappings have become part of the bitter history of how Islamabad has handled the Baloch question.

For decades, two things have happened side by side. On one hand, Islamabad has used the iron hand of the state to crush the voice of the Baloch. On the other hand, it has extracted the region’s natural wealth without giving its people a fair share. This double policy has created anger, mistrust, and a sense of betrayal among the Baloch population.

In recent years, this exploitation has grown with the entry of China under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The project, worth $62 billion, has been promoted as a lifeline for Pakistan’s economy and a sign of the “all-weather friendship” between Beijing and Islamabad. But for the Baloch, it has been a nightmare. The project is seen not as development but as a plan to expand Chinese influence, take control of the Baloch coast, and reduce the local people to a minority in their own land. Gwadar, once a quiet port town, has become central to this plan as China eyes access to warm waters.

The human cost has been severe. Hundreds of thousands of Baloch have been displaced from districts surrounding CPEC projects. Small villages and towns have been destroyed, many set on fire to clear land and ensure that the population does not interfere with the so-called development. Families have been forced to leave their homes, their land, and their belongings behind. Pakistani security forces have acted as the protectors of Chinese engineers and officials, ensuring the safety of the project but crushing the rights of the people.

The Baloch community has not stayed silent. They have consistently raised their voices against the exploitation and violence. Yet, instead of listening, the state has chosen to silence them with greater force. Rather than addressing decades of grievances, Pakistan and its Chinese partner have worked to brand the Baloch resistance as terrorism, hoping to strip the struggle of legitimacy in the eyes of the international community. The recent failed attempt at the UN is one more chapter in this long story of power, resistance, and suppression.