Why Baloch women are taking up arms, raining death on Pak forces

Baloch women fighters played a key role in the BLA's recent coordinated attacks across Balochistan. The involvement of women in the Baloch armed movement is part of the broader trend. After peaceful protests over enforced disappearances and exploitations failed, with men jailed or killed, the once-silent Baloch women are picking up arms, and even turning suicide bombers.

All through the night last Friday and into the weekend, Baloch rebels upped the ante against the Pakistani establishment. At least 10 security personnel were killed in coordinated attacks targeting security forces, police, and civilian infrastructure across 12 locations in Balochistan. The province's chief minister, Sarfaraz Bugti, was visibly shaken and in tears. What stood out most for many in the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA)'s attacks was the release of images of two of the attackers. Both of them were women, screamed news headlines. That raises a larger question. Militancy and armed resistance have long been seen as a male preserve, where men dangled AK-47s and blew themselves up in suicide attacks. How then did Baloch women come to take up arms?

Why is the Baloch resistance no longer the age-old male-dominated tribal rebellion it once was? In a nutshell, the answer is the brutal repression of the Pakistani military establishment on the Baloch community. Analysts point to a mix of factors like, changing times, Pakistani mistreatment of its largest province, rage, despair, and strategic adaptation.

"It's important to look at what it means when women become part of an insurgency", according to Pakistani political scientist Ayesha Siddiqa.

It is also the story of women pushed to the brink after the forced disappearances of their men by the Pakistani military apparatus and joint economic exploitation of Balochistan by the Pakistanis and the Chinese.

After the days-long attacks that left 50 civilians and 17 security personnel dead, the BLA released images of two of its attackers. Both were women, one of them identified as 24-year-old Asifa Mengal. Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also acknowledged that two of the attacks involved female rebels.

Asifa Mengal joined the BLA's Majeed Brigade on her 21st birthday. According to the BLA's statement, she decided to become a fidayee in January 2024 and was the attacker who targeted the ISI headquarters in Nushki on Saturday.