QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti has rejected the claim that violence and militancy in the province stems from sense of deprivation, saying the arrest of a university professor linked to Baloch Liberation Army’s (BLA) suicide squad, Majeed Brigade, proves otherwise.
Addressing a press conference at the CM Secretariat in Quetta on Monday, Bugti said for the first time, an individual of such a senior and organised level within the BLA has been taken into custody. He said the suspect, Dr Muhammad Usman Qazi, a BS-18 lecturer of Pakistan Studies at Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS), was involved in sheltering suicide bombers, including one who carried out the November Quetta Railway Station attack.
Government spokesperson Shahid Rind, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Hamza Shafqaat, Acting IG Police Saeed Wazir, and DIG CTD Quetta Aitzaz Ahmad Goraya were also present at the press conference.
Bugti said security forces, police, and the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) deserve credit for foiling a planned attack on August 14, Independence Day. According to him, a suicide bomber had been tasked to target civilians celebrating the occasion, but the attempt was thwarted.
A video confession of Dr Qazi was shown to the media. In the statement, he admitted to being a facilitator of BLA. He revealed that he hailed from Turbat, studied at Quaid-i-Azam University (Master’s and MPhil), completed his PhD at Peshawar University on an HEC scholarship, and later joined BUITEMS as a lecturer. His wife and mother are also government employees.
Qazi confessed that in 2020, he was introduced to three BLA members. After two were killed, he was contacted by Dr Hebtan alias Kalak, who recruited him into the BLA. Through Telegram, he was linked to the group’s chief Bashir Zeb. Inside the organisation, he was given the alias “Ameer.”
The professor admitted to three major facilitation tasks: Providing shelter and medical assistance to a BLA commander, Sher Dil alias Bohair, injured in clashes with security forces. He also confessed to sheltering suicide bomber Rafiq Bizenjo for two nights in November before he carried out the Quetta Railway Station blast.
He said he was involved in harboring another militant, Nauman, for over a week before handing him over to another BLA handler. Nauman was allegedly tasked with carrying out a major attack on August 14, but he was arrested before execution.
Bugti emphasised that the arrest of such a high-ranking facilitator exposes the myth that militancy is driven by economic deprivation. “How can one call this deprivation? Dr Qazi was a lecturer, his wife and mother were government servants, and he received state scholarships for higher education. This is not about deprivation — this is a foreign-backed anti-Pakistan agenda,” he said.
The chief minister said the Majeed Brigade operates in layers: first, propaganda-driven foot soldiers who carry out suicide attacks; second, facilitators inside urban areas, including women coerced into militancy; and third, a sophisticated top-tier network. “For the first time, someone from the Majeed Brigade’s upper echelon has been arrested,” he noted.
He added that during CTD’s attempt to capture another suicide bomber, local residents tried to resist and help him escape, leading to cases being registered against them. “We want to make it clear: anyone found sheltering or supporting militants will be considered facilitators and punished under the law,” Bugti warned.
The CM revealed that the provincial government has investigated 2,000–2,500 individuals, including civil servants, suspected of links to terrorism. While some were cleared, others were suspended, dismissed, or placed on the Fourth Schedule for close monitoring. A dedicated cell has also been established in the Home Department under an Additional Secretary to track individuals with suspected extremist ties.
Meanwhile, the judge of the Anti-Terrorism Court, Quetta-II, Muhammad Ali Kakar, has remanded Dr Usman Qazi of IT University, who was arrested by security forces, into the custody of Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), Quetta for 14 days.
Amid tight security the officials of the CTD produced the arrested professor before the ATC-Quetta II judge who was arrested August 12 on the identification of a “would-be-suicide-bomber” who was arrested by security forces a few days back from an area located on the outskirts of this provincial capital.
The CTD requested the ATC judge for giving the accused into custody on remand. The court, accepting the plea of CTD, remanded the accused into CTD custody for 14 days. Heavy contingent of police and ATF was deployed in and around the ATC court and after competing court proceedings, the CTD took back the IT University professor.