Pakistan’s largest and most resource-rich province has long been a target of regional power politics. In recent years, mounting evidence and confessions from captured operatives, intercepted communications, and financial trails have exposed an elaborate and deliberate Indian campaign to destabilize Balochistan through support for separatist groups like the BLA. Central to this campaign is India’s premier intelligence agency, the RAW, which has allegedly coordinated, funded, and facilitated a string of terrorist operations on Pakistani soil.
India’s resentment toward Pakistan’s creation in 1947 and its role in the 1971 East Pakistan secession is well documented. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2015 speech in Dhaka, openly boasting about India’s involvement in Bangladesh’s formation, was not just a historical admission-it was a policy declaration. The roots of this policy can be traced to a broader strategic vision articulated by senior Indian officials. In 2014, India’s National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, issued a blunt warning: “You do one more Mumbai, and you lose Balochistan.” His words indicated a calculated shift toward hybrid warfare. Doval’s doctrine emphasized the use of non-state actors, psychological operations, and covert tactics to achieve strategic objectives against adversaries, particularly Pakistan. This policy has since translated into active support for proxy groups in Balochistan.
Investigations have linked over $4.8 million in transfers from RAW-linked entities to BLA and allied groups between 2020 and 2023.
One of the most high-profile pieces of evidence in this ongoing saga was the arrest of Kulbhushan Jadhav in 2016. A serving officer in the Indian Navy, Jadhav was operating under the alias Hussein Mubarak Patel and was found coordinating sabotage activities in Balochistan and Karachi. His confessional statement, corroborated by multiple intelligence inputs, detailed how RAW had tasked him with recruiting local operatives, organizing funding channels, and planning attacks on critical infrastructure and security installations. The exposure of Jadhav’s network coincided with the discovery of RAW’s special operations cell, reportedly created in 2015 under the direct supervision of the Indian Prime Minister’s Office. With a staggering budget of $500 million, this cell was tasked specifically with disrupting the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Operatives used Indian consulates in Afghanistan to channel funds and training to separatist militants operating in Balochistan. This strategy of covert support has manifested in several high-profile attacks. In November 2018, BLA militants attempted to storm the Chinese Consulate in Karachi. One of the masterminds, Aslam Achu, was later found receiving medical treatment at a hospital in New Delhi. Similar patterns emerged in the 2019 Gwadar PC Hotel attack, reportedly coordinated by Dr. Allah Nazar of the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), who traveled to India using fake documents allegedly prepared by RAW.
More recently, the 2022 suicide bombing at Karachi University, which killed three Chinese educators, was traced back to BLA operatives linked to RAW handlers operating from a third country. The suicide bomber, Shari Baloch, was reportedly radicalized by female trainers connected to the BLA’s Majeed Brigade. Surveillance and interrogation of facilitators revealed that the operation had been supervised and funded through cross-border coordination.
The digital trail is equally telling. Social media accounts tied to Indian information warfare units have been used to glorify attacks, propagate disinformation, and psychologically support separatist narratives. A notorious example is the “Baba Banaras” account, which allegedly predicted and later celebrated a 2024 suicide bombing on a Chinese convoy in Karachi. These activities suggest a multi-layered strategy involving both kinetic operations and information manipulation. Beyond violence, India’s network of support includes financial disbursements through shell companies and offshore accounts. Investigations have linked over $4.8 million in transfers from RAW-linked entities to BLA and allied groups between 2020 and 2023. Documents show that front companies like Infosys and Bostanic Trading LLC were used to disguise the origin of funds, which were then distributed via intermediary organizations across Dubai, South Korea, and Afghanistan. The collaboration reached a new peak during the Pakistan-India standoff in May 2025, when the BLA openly offered its services as a military proxy for India. This unprecedented alignment further confirmed suspicions of a coordinated destabilization effort. As Pakistani forces focused on external threats, BLA violence surged inside Balochistan, culminating in a suicide bombing on a school bus in Khuzdar.
Despite mounting evidence, the international response has been muted. The geopolitical complexities of South Asia, coupled with India’s economic weight in global forums, have contributed to a glaring lack of diplomatic pressure. India’s use of proxies in Balochistan represents not only a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty but also a dangerous precedent in state-sponsored destabilization efforts.
The writer is an alumnus of QAU, MPhil scholar & a freelance columnist based in Islamabad. He can be reached at [email protected].