BY: ARSALAN BALOCH
The land of Balochistan, long weathered by history, has borne witness to countless waves of invasion and oppression. Today, it faces a new and brutal threat—the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). Cloaked in the banner of religion, this group has not only unleashed bloodshed to destabilize Balochistan’s fragile peace, but, with the tacit approval and even covert support of elements within the Pakistani government, has slithered like a venomous snake to erode the fundamental rights and future prospects of the Baloch people.
As Deputy Secretary-General of the Baloch Student Association in Europe and North America, I feel compelled to speak bluntly: ISKP has transformed from a peripheral disruptor into the executioner of our national aspirations. Through systematic violence and ideological infiltration, it has become a direct force strangling the Baloch dream of autonomy. Its actions not only endanger the lives of ordinary people but also undermine the century-long struggle of the Baloch for freedom and dignity.
In March 2025, amid the smoke of conflict, the brave people of Balochistan launched a daring counteroffensive in Mastung district. In a meticulously planned operation, they dismantled a major ISKP training camp, eliminating more than thirty heavily armed militants, including several foreign mercenaries from Central and West Asia. This should have been celebrated as a major victory on the global front against terrorism—a decisive blow to extremist forces. Yet the outcome was the opposite of what many had expected.
Rather than retreat, ISKP was enraged. The group swiftly issued statements through underground channels, formally declaring an end to its long-standing “non-aggression pact” with Baloch separatists. Even more alarming, it openly named those of us fighting for national liberation as prime targets for assassination, vowing bloody reprisals. This sudden escalation has cast a dark shadow over the region, sharply intensifying security risks and laying the groundwork for dangerous conflicts ahead.
The threat posed by the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) has shifted from rhetoric to horrifying reality. On a quiet afternoon in September 2025, a political rally of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) in Quetta, Pakistan, was targeted by a suicide bombing. An ISKP militant, reportedly of foreign origin, disguised himself as an ordinary civilian and detonated an explosive device in the midst of the gathering. The attack claimed dozens of innocent lives and left scores injured, turning the site into a scene of carnage.
This atrocity underscores ISKP’s intent to destabilize Balochistan and shatter the lives of its people. The group’s violent escalation followed earlier threats: in May this year, ISKP circulated propaganda videos on social media, warning civilians to avoid Baloch nationalist rallies and brazenly declaring such gatherings “priority targets.” Rather than intimidate the population, however, these threats have fueled greater determination among the Baloch to resist ISKP’s terror campaign.
On a broader scale, ISKP’s influence in Balochistan has taken a systemic and structural form, eroding both the province’s economy and its social fabric. The group’s activities extend far beyond sporadic attacks. Its fighters have disrupted key trade routes, extorted mineral transport convoys, and targeted critical infrastructure, undermining the region’s economic order.
For years, ISKP has entrenched itself along Balochistan’s borderlands with Afghanistan and Iran, leveraging its armed strength to dominate strategic trade corridors. Historically, these cross-border routes linked South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East, serving as vital channels for commerce, regional development, and local livelihoods. Under ISKP’s control, however, they have been transformed into instruments of illicit profit. The group imposes heavy “tolls” on traders, engages in cross-border trafficking of drugs and weapons, and carries out kidnappings and extortion, amassing vast sums through criminal enterprise.
The human toll has been devastating. ISKP’s relentless violence has triggered a humanitarian crisis, forcing tens of thousands of Baloch civilians from their ancestral homes. Families have fled under the shadow of gunfire and explosions, enduring displacement, fear, and despair. Their basic rights and dignity have been stripped away, while Balochistan’s broader social order and economic development remain paralyzed under the weight of extremist violence.
One of the most serious and deadly threats currently confronting the international community is the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), an extremist organization operating along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border. This notorious group poses an unprecedented, systemic danger to the survival and development of the Baloch people, with both the scale and severity of its impact proving alarming. The extremist ideology it promotes stands in stark opposition to the cultural traditions and values cultivated by the Baloch over thousands of years. This conflict is not merely ideological—it represents a confrontation between civilization and barbarism.
ISKP’s brutal actions and extremist doctrines fundamentally violate the Baloch people’s long-standing traditions of peaceful coexistence, tolerance, and openness. Its violent attempts to impose control have gravely disrupted the stable social order and deeply rooted cultural foundations that have defined Balochistan for centuries. The group seeks to propagate inhumane ideologies while using terror attacks, forced conversions, and other coercive tactics to establish a reign of fear and oppression in the region. Such ambitions represent an unparalleled and enduring threat to the Baloch people’s freedoms, cultural heritage, and prospects for future prosperity.
Should ISKP succeed in fully seizing control of Balochistan, the consequences would be catastrophic. The group would implement extremist policies that not only violate basic humanitarian principles but also trample on the progress of human civilization. Modern education would be among the first casualties: secular schools teaching science and culture would be shut down, libraries would be burned, and research institutions dedicated to advancing knowledge and social progress would be systematically destroyed.
Even more alarming, ISKP would enforce sweeping prohibitions that strip women of their right to education, confining them to the household and reducing them to reproductive instruments and marginalized members of society. Simultaneously, the group would impose a rigid religious-ideological curriculum, designed as part of a broader campaign of cultural cleansing aimed at erasing all elements of Baloch culture that reflect modernity, humanism, and progressive thought.
ISKP’s efforts would extend to constructing an extensive surveillance apparatus across towns and villages, backed by informant networks and strict reporting mechanisms to tighten ideological control. Under such a regime, any Baloch citizen expressing dissent, questioning extremist policies, or attempting resistance would face inhumane punishments, including torture and public executions.
This suffocating climate of repression would plunge Baloch society into a prolonged state of fear, exacerbate internal divisions, and dismantle cultural foundations that have been preserved across generations. It would extinguish hope for a better future, dragging the region into a prolonged abyss of instability and despair.
Faced with this existential crisis, the brave and undaunted people of Balochistan can no longer remain silent or await destruction. We must act now — with overwhelming force and unbreakable unity — to repel the illegal incursions and brutal expansion of the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). United and resolute, we must launch a broad-based, global campaign to expose ISKP’s monstrous nature and crimes against humanity through every available channel: international media, social networks, and all other platforms.
At the same time, on our sacred ancestral soil we must rapidly establish robust defensive systems: strengthen community watch and mutual-aid mechanisms, organize civilian self-defense units, and vow to defend our mosques, schools, marketplaces, and other gathering places to the last breath. We will protect our beloved national leaders and intellectuals and leave no opening for extremists to exploit.
History has shown time and again that only through popular unity and collective resolve — only through determined resistance and self-sacrifice — can we strip away ISKP’s false mask and defeat its evil designs. Only then can we reclaim the lasting peace and sacred dignity that belong to the Baloch nation. The present moment is critical; every second is precious. Every son and daughter of Balochistan must step forward — for the future of Balochistan must be forged by the Baloch people themselves, and no foreign force may be permitted to dictate our destiny.
