Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) declares war on Pro Independence Baloch groups

On 25 May 2025, Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) declared war on Baloch ‘pro-independence’ insurgent groups. The terror outfit ISKP has claimed that Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) attacked its fighters in Mastung, Balochistan. Calling the attacks on their fighters “unprovoked”, the ISKP’s media wing, Al-Azaim Foundation, released a 36-minute Pashto-language video. In it, ISKP stated to having a “non-aggression policy” towards the Baloch fighters but has changed its stance and will approach the Baloch insurgents as adversaries.

“Difficult and bloody days are ahead,” the narrator in the video stated.

Additionally, the video declared ISKP’s intent to retaliate against Baloch insurgent groups and their affiliates in a similar way as it has dealt with the Afghan Taliban.

The attacks which ISKP referred to were those where the BLA claimed attacks on ISKP in March 2025.  According to them, BLA was involved in a major offensive involving 71 coordinated attacks at more than 51 locations across Balochistan amongst which some may have been attacks on ISKP bases.

The ‘Mastung Attack’ attack by Baloch insurgents can be inferred as a pre-emptive strike against one of ISKP’s ‘Global Networks’ and has certainly proved to be a big blow to ISKP. Several foreign nationals within ISKP’s ranks were killed. This must have hindered ISKP’s operations, as these foreign recruits were meant to be utilized as orchestrators of international terror attacks. Their background as nationals of foreign countries would allow them to travel abroad with ease, while their good communications skills would keep them undetected for a longer period.

The affirmation of ISKP’s training camps and safe havens in Balochistan has come to light from the video. It is imperative to mention that the Afghan Taliban and its affiliated media outlets had also declared ISKP operating its camps from within Pakistan in the past.

Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson for the Afghan Taliban, has reiterated ISKP’s involvement in attacks in Afghanistan and has stressed on the presence of its training camps in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He indirectly mentioned ISKP’s presence in the region as a product of support from “certain intelligence agencies” in Pakistan. He further added that the assailants behind the May 2024 Bamyan shooting and the September 2024 Kabul bombing were also trained in Mastung.

Mujahid’s claim held a certain credibility when another military analyst, Aziz Stanekzai, also confirmed post the attacks in Bamyan and Kabul that “95% percent of the attacks that take place in Afghanistan are planned in Pakistan, and those crimes are then carried out in Afghanistan.”

The Afghan government has consistently criticised Pakistan’s failed efforts at curbing the ISKP presence in Balochistan as it continued to launch attacks into Afghanistan.

Post the dastardly ISIS attacks in Iran and Russia in early 2024, many security analysts initially attributed them to ISKP’s ‘Global Operations’ campaign and held Afghanistan responsible for enabling ISKP’s expanding global footprint.

This notion was soon debunked when the evidentiary proof evidence gathered by Iran and Russia during their investigations into the Kreman (2024) and Moscow (2024) attacks concluded similar findings i.e. the epicentre of ISKP’s global terror ops was not Afghanistan, but Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Evidently, the perpetrators of these attacks were also found in Balochistan province.

In an article published in the Sunday Guardian, a former Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Ehsanullah Ehsaan mentioned the growing comraderie between Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI and the ISKP. He claimed that an agreement had been reached between ISKP and Pakistani intelligence called the Dabori agreement (named after a village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). Since then there hasn’t been a serious crackdown on ISKP reported in Pakistan. https://sundayguardianlive.com/top-five/isis-leadership-enjoying-hospitality-of-pakistan-agencies

The ISKP attacks in Kabul and Herat in the past are believed to have been carried out on the financial support and orders of the ISI. The Pakistani military's strategy to employ ISKP as its strategic asset is to build pressure on Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and to re-establish its 'strategic depth' in Afghanistan. The Taliban government has charged the Pakistani military with trying to push ISK cadre across the Durand Line under the guise of cross-border retaliatory fire, a similar strategy that Pakistan has been employing to infiltrate India through Kashmir.  It is a known fact that ISI’s idea of counter-terrorism is not the elimination of terrorists but their utilization as 'assets', especially in cases where interests may align. This was evident also from the state honours that Pakistan bestowed on the killed terrorists post India’s Operation Sindoor strikes on the terror bases in Pakistan. With several Pakistan’s important dignitaries and military personnel present at the funeral processions of the killed terrorists, along with their coffins wrapped in the Pakistan flags did nothing to support Pakistan’s deniability with its terror supporting affiliations.

While ISKP may have found strategic reasons to align with Pakistan, its larger objective remains the institution of Sharia law and the establishment of its caliphate in the region.

More importantly, despite ISKP’s recent declaration of war on Baloch armed groups, it is expected to be confronted with a greater challenge of engaging the Baloch groups head on. It can be determined from the following factors:

• Lack of support in the region in comparison to the Baloch insurgents who are affiliated with Balochistan’s desire for self-determination and Independence from Pakistan.
• The networks which the Baloch groups have cultivated in regards to HUMINT or in terms of logistics and resources.
• The transition of Baloch insurgent groups from fighting independently to a more unified approach under the Baloch National Army, led by the Baloch Raji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS)—a coalition of various armed organisations advocating for Balochistan’s independence from Pakistan.
• BRAS consists of the Baloch Liberation Army, Balochistan Liberation Front, Baloch Republican Guards, Sindhi Liberation Organisation, and Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army. The combined effort may prove to be a challenge for an over zealous ISKP.
• Combination of TTP and Baloch insurgent groups working at tandem with each other will also turn to be a threat for ISKP. As ISKP views Afghan Taliban as rivals, with its intent to discredit the Taliban in the jihadist world and project itself as sole authority on jihad, it is expected to face threats from the Afghan Taliban and its affiliates such as the TTP.
• Moreover, its affiliation with Pakistan’s ISI and its direct threats to India will not be expected to bode well for ISKP, given that India’s strong resolve to terminate the terrorist bases in Pakistan.

Apart from ISKP’s boisterous remarks to counter Baloch insurgents, the declarations come at the time when Balochistan has declared its independence from Pakistan, asking the international community to acknowledge its sovereignty. During the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, Baloch writer Mir Yar Baloch declared Balochistan’s independence, urging India to establish a Baloch embassy in New Delhi. He appealed to the UN for peacekeeping forces and demanded the withdrawal of the Pakistani army. With such developments in foreplay, it would be expected that the Pakistan government has played a role in deploying its ISKP stooge to dismantle the Baloch movement.

The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), known for its diligent campaigning against Pakistan’s enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and state repression in Balochistan has suffered from state crackdown in recent months with its leaders arbitrarily detained on charges of terrorism, sedition, and murder. Several reports of Baloch students and activists gone missing have surfaced in the media.

Regardless, the BYC has continued to organize widespread protests across Balochistan and Karachi to fight against Pakistan’s atrocities and human rights violations against the civilians. It can be inferred despite the bloodless battles waged by the BYC, the probability of becoming ISKP’s target is high.

In conjunction to what India has confirmed about terror bases in Pakistan, the BLA has also confirmed Pakistan’s funding of global terrorism through its intelligence agencies, having named terror outfits such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, and ISKP to have affiliations with the Pakistani state. “Under its [ISI’s] auspices, Pakistan has become a nuclear state of violent ideology, which is becoming a volcano for its own people and for the entire world.” stated BLA. It further added “Sooner or later, we will destroy this occupying terrorist state and liberate our motherland,” the BLA said.

Pakistani Duplicity on ISKP crackdown.

Pakistan’s has tried to weave a narrative that ISKP was and is solely associated with Afghanistan. While in some essence ISKP tried to use Afghanistan as a launching pad for its Regional Jihad monopoly plan, the crackdown from the war-theatre-exited rival Afghan Taliban had made it difficult to thrive in Afghanistan. Given the common enemy remained the Afghan Taliban, the quid pro quo approach seemed to have been initiated by ISI providing support and safe havens in Balochistan, in exchange to counter TTP, Baloch insurgents and Taliban.

In March 2025, US President Donald Trump publicly acknowledged Pakistan for arresting and handing over ISKP member Sharifullah; involved in the Abbey Gate attack. This played well for Islamabad’s narrative for deniability in regard to its affiliation with ISKP and projecting country’s positive CT approach against terrorism.

It managed to kill two birds with one stone, maintained its image of countering terrorism while covering the presence of ISKP ‘s safe sanctuaries on its soil by handing one bait. Expectedly, whether knowingly or unknowingly, the US bit the bait publically.

Additionally, every arrest or extradition operation made by Pakistan has been strategically motivated in a similar quid pro quo approach with the nations it deals with or by using these means as a gesture to boost bilateral relations.

Pakistan as a part of its strategic bargain, carried the following notable ‘Arrest and Extradition’ operations:

• Sharifullah (ISKP), responsible for the Abbey Gate attack, was arrested and handed over to US (Bonus-Pakistan managed to garner favourable PR at the time despite of being accused of supporting terrorism in the region multiple times).
• Adel Panjsheri (ISKP) and Abdullah Quetta (ISKP) masterminds of the Kerman attacks in 2024, arrested and handed over to Iran (Brownie points- In exchange, Pakistan received Baloch separatist leader Wahid Qambar from Iran).
• Abu Munzir (ISKP), a Tajik national who was the mastermind of the Crocus City Hall attack in Moscow, arrested and handed over to Russia.
• Four Azeri ISKP members, recently were arrested and handed over to Azerbaijan.

Importantly, all the above arrests were made in Balochistan province. Aware that these arrests would raise doubts and suspicions about the presence of these outfits in Pakistan, Islamabad parallelly deployed its state-controlled media and SM accounts to reframe the narrative.

ISKP, unlike TTP and Baloch Separatists, planned to carry out its operations within Pakistani territory without provoking the Pak Army. Its activities were restricted to sectarian target killings of religious clerics , Police personnel and an occasional fidayeen attacks on political gatherings and rallies.

ISKP’s use of terms like ‘Betrayal’ and ‘Treason’ to describe the attack by Baloch insurgents also suggests they were assured safety in their sanctuaries in Mastung, until the Afghan General Directorate of Intelligence decided to strike back.

On basis of the recent findings and evidentiary proof, Pakistan’s association with ISKP is irrefutable. It’s contiguous efforts of aligning with terror groups to wage proxy wars against its enemies, while presenting deniability is a testament to Pakistan’s idea of counter terrorism. Hence the Pakistani state has blurred the separation of the state and state sponsored terror assets, leaving itself solely responsible for the terrorism in the region.