Majeed Brigade took responsibility of attack on the Gwadar port. According to the Pakistan Army, 8 insurgents and 2 security personnel are killed. But according to Majeed Brigade, at least 25 security personnel are killed. Majeed Brigade is a suicide squad of Baloch Liberal Army (BLA) who carry attacks in different part of the province.
They ‘re active in the region since 2011 and carried out many attacks. This brigade is named after the 2 brothers Majeed Langove.
History Of Balochistan:
Balochistan is in southwest part of Pakistan. It is the largest province of Pakistan with very densely population and economically very backward.
At the time of partition, many chiefs from the province were allegiance to the British. They were confident to get the separate state. But in 1948, Ahmad Yar Khan of Kalat was forced to accede and became part of Pakistan. This starts the insurgency in the region.
China backed Gwadar port is injustice to the people of Baloch. Despite the high unemployment rate in the province, most of the engineer and technical workers are being hired from Punjab and Sindh provinces. This has led recent attacks on the China nationals as well. China has stopped the construction work on the port and wants to provide security to China nationals in the province to proceed.
Death of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto:
In 1972, National Awami Party (NAP) came to power in the Baloch province. They were opposition party in the center against Zulfikar Ali Butto’s party Pakistan People’s Party. The NAP was advocating more autonomy in the region for many years. After 1971 war loss against Indian, Zulfikar doesn’t want to give more autonomy to the provinces. This has lead insurgency and recent attacks on the Pakistan Army. In 1974, a huge consignment of arms which was going to deliver to Baloch insurgents was discovered. The led to the complete failure of law and order in the region. From 1974 to 1977, the situation was very bad, and fight was going on between insurgents and Pakistan Army.
On August 2, 1974, Majeed Senior who was very young at that time decided to kill Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto came to Quetta to attend a public gathering. Majeed Senior waited atop a tree with grenade in hand. He had no intention of escaping. When the car of Bhutto came under the tree, he jumped on the car and killed Butto and himself.
Beginning Of Majeed Brigade:
Baloch liberal army treat Majeed senior as a hero. His younger brother Majeed Jr. was born after 2 years of his death.
In 2010, Pakistan army surrounded a house in Quetta with inputs from ISI that Majeed Jr. residing there. He wanted his comrades to escape from the location. He gave strong fight to Pakistan army for an hour and killed. His death was mourned by Baloch liberal army. Later when people found out that he is the younger brother of Majeed senior they also treated him as their hero. Who sacrificed his life for the sake of Baloch people.
Aslam Achu, a BLA leader, proposed to set up a suicide squad under BLA and suggested to name after Majeed brothers. This is how Majeed brigade set up in 2011. Since 2011, they carried out many attacks in the region. They attacked Gwadar port, consulate office of China in Karachi, Pearl continental hotel in Karachi, Pakistan stock exchange in Karachi.