US, UK, France block Pakistan-China bid at UN to sanction BLA

The United States, the United Kingdom, and France have blocked a joint bid by Pakistan and China to designate the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its suicide wing, the Majeed Brigade, under the UN 1267 terror sanctions regime.

The proposal was put on a technical hold, with the three countries citing insufficient evidence to link the groups to Al Qaeda and ISIL, according to the Economic Times.

Pakistan and China had submitted the joint request at the UN Security Council to classify the BLA and the Majeed Brigade as terrorist entities under the Council’s 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee, PTI reported.

Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmed, said on Wednesday that multiple terrorist groups, including ISIL-K, Al-Qaeda, Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, East Turkistan Islamic Movement, the BLA, and its Majeed Brigade, operate from Afghan sanctuaries, with over 60 terror camps serving as hubs for cross-border attacks.

“Pakistan and China have jointly submitted to the 1267 Sanctions Committee a request to designate the BLA and Majeed Brigade. We hope the Council will act swiftly on this listing to curb their terrorist activities,” Ahmed said during the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Afghanistan.

Ahmed added that the Afghan Taliban authorities must meet their international counter-terrorism obligations. "Terrorism emanating from Afghanistan remains the gravest threat to Pakistan’s national security,” he said, PTI reported.

Pakistan currently serves as a non-permanent member of the 15-nation Security Council for the 2025-26 term, while China holds veto power as a permanent member.

Formed in 2011, the Majeed Brigade is reportedly a suicide squad of the BLA, targeting mainly security forces and Chinese interests in Pakistan, PTI noted.

The BLA was designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) by the US in 2019 after several attacks. Since then, the group has claimed responsibility for further attacks, including those by the Majeed Brigade, the US State Department had said.

Last month, the US officially designated the BLA and its Majeed Brigade as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation. The State Department also added the Majeed Brigade as an alias to the BLA’s existing SDGT designation.