The United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK) and France have blocked a joint bid by Pakistan and China to designate the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its suicide wing, the Majeed Brigade, under the UN Security Council’s 1267 Sanctions Regime, citing insufficient evidence linking the groups to global jihadist networks like Al-Qaeda or ISIS.
The move comes just weeks after Washington designated both groups as Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTOs) under US domestic law, underscoring a growing divergence between how states define and address regional versus global terrorist threats. The UN 1267 Sanctions Regime, established in 1999, specifically targets entities and individuals affiliated with Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and ISIL (ISIS) through asset freezes, travel bans and arms embargoes. US, UK, France block Pak-China bid to sanction BLA at UN.
The US and its allies argue that while the BLA and Majeed Brigade are involved in violent insurgency and terrorism, there is no conclusive evidence linking them to the global jihadist framework required under 1267 criteria. This technical distinction has frustrated Islamabad and Beijing, who pushed for the sanctions following a series of deadly attacks blamed on the BLA, including suicide bombings and cross-border raids.
“Pakistan and China have jointly submitted to the 1267 Sanctions Committee a request to designate the BLA and Majeed Brigade. We hope the Council will act swiftly on this listing to curb their terrorist activities,” said Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmed, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, addressing the Security Council on Wednesday.
Ambassador Ahmed warned that terrorist threats emanating from Afghanistan continue to pose Pakistan’s most pressing national security challenge. He named ISIL-K, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Al-Qaeda, and the BLA and Majeed Brigade as active groups launching attacks across Pakistan’s western border. He urged the Taliban-led government in Kabul to fulfil its international obligations to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a haven for terrorist organizations.
While acknowledging the domestic threat posed by the BLA and Majeed Brigade, Western diplomats at the UN noted that the lack of established operational links to Al-Qaeda or ISIL disqualifies the groups from being designated under the 1267 regime. Founded in the early 2000s, the Balochistan Liberation Army is a separatist militant group seeking independence for Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province. It has long been accused by Islamabad of receiving foreign support, although such claims remain disputed.
The BLA’s Majeed Brigade, named after a Baloch student who carried out a suicide attack in the 1970s, has claimed responsibility for numerous high-profile attacks, including the 2018 suicide bombing at the Chinese Consulate in Karachi, the 2019 attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange, and Multiple assaults targeting Chinese nationals and investments linked to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
These attacks, many involving suicide bombers, have led the group to be classified by the U.S. State Department as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity in 2019, and more recently as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in 2024.
The rejection of the Pakistan-China proposal reflects deeper geopolitical tensions within the UN Security Council, where counter-terrorism listings are often subject to strategic considerations beyond evidence alone. Analysts say the decision could strain efforts to build consensus on defining terrorism across contexts, particularly as regional groups increasingly adopt the tactics - but not always the ideology - of global jihadist networks.
Meanwhile, Pakistan continues to press the case that all terrorist violence, regardless of ideological affiliation, must be addressed with equal urgency by the international community. The US and its allies argue that while the BLA and Majeed Brigade are involved in violent insurgency and terrorism, there is no conclusive evidence linking them to the global jihadist framework required under 1267 criteria.
This technical distinction has frustrated Islamabad and Beijing, who pushed for the sanctions following a series of deadly attacks blamed on the BLA, including suicide bombings and cross-border raids. “Pakistan and China have jointly submitted to the 1267 Sanctions Committee a request to designate the BLA and Majeed Brigade. We hope the Council will act swiftly on this listing to curb their terrorist activities,” said Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmed, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, addressing the Security Council on Wednesday.
Ambassador Ahmed warned that terrorist threats emanating from Afghanistan continue to pose Pakistan’s most pressing national security challenge. He named ISIL-K, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Al-Qaeda, and the BLA and Majeed Brigade as active groups launching attacks across Pakistan’s western border.
He urged the Taliban-led government in Kabul to fulfil its international obligations to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a haven for terrorist organizations. While acknowledging the domestic threat posed by the BLA and Majeed Brigade, Western diplomats at the UN noted that the lack of established operational links to Al-Qaeda or ISIL disqualifies the groups from being designated under the 1267 regime.
Founded in the early 2000s, the Balochistan Liberation Army is a separatist militant group seeking independence for Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province. It has long been accused by Islamabad of receiving foreign support, although such claims remain disputed.
The BLA’s Majeed Brigade, named after a Baloch student who carried out a suicide attack in the 1970s, has claimed responsibility for numerous high-profile attacks, including the 2018 suicide bombing at the Chinese Consulate in Karachi, the 2019 attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange, Multiple assaults targeting Chinese nationals and investments linked to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
These attacks, many involving suicide bombers, have led the group to be classified by the U.S. State Department as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity in 2019, and more recently as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in 2024. The rejection of the Pakistan-China proposal reflects deeper geopolitical tensions within the UN Security Council, where counter-terrorism listings are often subject to strategic considerations beyond evidence alone.
Analysts say the decision could strain efforts to build consensus on defining terrorism across contexts, particularly as regional groups increasingly adopt the tactics - but not always the ideology - of global jihadist networks. Meanwhile, Pakistan continues to press the case that all terrorist violence, regardless of ideological affiliation, must be addressed with equal urgency by the international community.