Published on: August 21, 2025 7:55 AM
“State gave me a job and a job to my wife. Despite
this, I betrayed the state.”
—Dr. Usman Qazi confessed in his video statement
At first glance, Dr. Usman Qazi looked every bit the model academic. A son of Turbat, educated on state funded scholarships through Quaid-e-Azam University and the University of Peshawar, a PhD-holder, and a lecturer at Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS). His wife too was a government employee. The couple lived comfortably, beneficiaries of the very state system that nurtured their careers.
Yet, behind the lectern, Dr. Qazi was living a double life. CM Balochistan, Sarfaraz Bugti revealed a video statement of Usman Qazi in which he confessed that he was a key facilitator for the banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and its suicide wing, the Majeed Brigade. “I betrayed the state,” he said flatly, before outlining how he harbored militants, arranged logistics, and handed over a suicide bomber who went on to kill 32 people at Quetta Railway Station last November. His case has jolted Pakistan’s academic community-and re-opened uncomfortable questions about whether universities, once considered bastions of learning, are becoming soft targets for radical recruiters.
The Confession That Shook Quetta
On August 18, Balochistan authorities presented Dr. Qazi before court after his arrest during an intelligence-based operation. He confessed to arranging safe houses for BLA commanders, procuring weapons, and introducing bombers to their handlers. One such bomber, Rafiq Bizenjo, later blew himself up at Quetta Railway Station on November 9, 2024, killing 32-including 22 security officials-and injuring 55.
He also admitted preparing another bomber for an attack planned on August 14 this year and sheltering notorious militant Sher Dil. His Telegram chats with BLA chief Bashir Zeb, he claimed, were regular. While rights activists have voiced doubts about the voluntariness of his statement, the confession has already reignited a fierce debate: what explains the radicalization of those who appear to have had every opportunity in life?
From Govt. grants to grave treachery
What makes Qazi’s case particularly unsettling is the backdrop of privilege. His entire academic journey- from Master’s to M.Phil. to PhD-was funded by the Higher Education Commission. He returned to Quetta to hold a Grade-18 government post, while his wife served in Grade-17. His late father was a schoolteacher, his mother still drawing a state pension. There was no deprivation, no exclusion. Instead, Qazi’s alleged drift into militancy suggests a deliberate recruitment strategy. As Pakistan’s security operations degraded BLA’s ability to mount rural insurgency, the group shifted tactics: targeting educated youth, co-opting professors, and embedding itself into universities.
When Universities Become Terror Hubs
The phenomenon is not new-but it is accelerating.
n Shari Baloch, a 30-year-old, highly educated teacher and mother of two, stunned the nation in 2022 when she carried out a suicide bombing at Karachi University’s Confucius Institute, killing three Chinese nationals. BLA proudly claimed her as one of its “soldiers.”
n Mahal Baloch, detained in 2023, was accused of acting as a BLA facilitator in Quetta. She was well-educated and a lawyer. Rights groups contested the detention, but the case underscored again how educated women are increasingly entangled in the insurgency.
n In 2015, two Punjab University faculty members were arrested for alleged ties to Hizb-ut-Tahrir. That case was an early warning sign: professors themselves can become conduits for extremist networks.
n Even in Islamabad, Quaid-e-Azam University has been flagged repeatedly. Dr. Qazi himself admitted meeting BLA contacts there during his PhD days. Controversial figures like Mohsin Dawar and Manzoor Pashteen have also been accused of stoking anti-state rhetoric on campus, though Dawar has defended his right to political speech.
From hostels used as safe houses to classrooms used as recruiting grounds, the very places meant to nurture critical thinking are at risk of being co-opted into ideological battlefields.
The New Face of Extremism
Security experts describe this as “narrative warfare.” The method is clear: Educated operatives like Qazi or Shari Baloch lend credibility to the BLA’s image, breaking the stereotype of the “poor insurgent.”
Social media campaigns portray them as “intellectual voices” or “victims of oppression,” muddying the line between scholar and terrorist. Rights discourses are leveraged to contest every arrest, framing state action as “repression” or “enforced disappearances” while downplaying the violence of the insurgents themselves.
This is why; the case of Usman Qazi cannot be dismissed as an anomaly. It reflects a calculated effort by insurgent handlers, often backed by foreign sponsors, to target educated youth and create sympathizers within influential circles.
The Questions to be asked
The revelations from the Qazi case leave behind uncomfortable but urgent questions for Pakistan’s society, media, and academic community:
n How can an individual whose life was wholly facilitated by the state-through scholarships, jobs, and protection-be repackaged as a traitor of that same state?
n When journalists and opinion-makers amplify such figures as “intellectuals,” are they unwittingly strengthening the networks that have killed dozens of innocents?
n If universities are now staging grounds for indoctrination and terror logistics, what reforms are urgently needed to safeguard campuses without smothering academic freedom?
n Is it not outright betrayal when state resources, meant for education, are used to wage war against the very state?
Policy Implications: From Reaction to Prevention
1) Harden the campus environment without
smothering academic life
Universities should institute due-diligence protocols around hostel access, off-campus “guest” stays, and student society finances; adopt transparent speaker policies; and train faculty/staff on spotting radicalization indicators. Such steps are consistent with best practice campus security and need not infringe lawful speech.
2) Build early-warning networks
Joint university-LEA liaison units and anonymous reporting channels can surface suspicious logistics (safe houses, weapons transfers) before attacks. These efforts should be paired with independent ombuds mechanisms so students trust that complaints won’t become witch-hunts.
3) Counter “narrative warfare” with facts, fast
When arrests occur, prompt judicial proceedings, public charge-sheets, and evidence summaries- within legal limits-blunt propaganda on both extremes. Where detentions are contested (e.g., Mahal Baloch), swift, rights-compliant review is vital; credibility is a strategic asset in an information contest.
4) Track the educated-recruiter pipeline
Security agencies should prioritize mapping facilitators-those with institutional access, digital tradecraft, or logistics roles-rather than focusing solely on triggermen. Open-source reporting on BLA’s evolving playbook suggests these enablers are force-multipliers.
5) Invest in positive campus culture
Robust debate and lawful activism are pressure valves; censorship creates vacuums that clandestine networks fill. Partnering with credible civil-society and alumni to mentor at risk students can reduce the appeal of clandestine “purpose” offered by recruiters.
A Warning Sign
The story of Dr. Usman Qazi is more than a tale of one man’s betrayal. It is a warning sign that Pakistan’s universities are being contested by violent actors who see them as fertile ground for recruitment and propaganda. From Shari Baloch’s shocking suicide attack to this professor of BUITEMS, the pattern is clear: higher education is the new frontline. If ignored, the “intellectual face” of militancy will only grow sharper, cloaked in academic respectability but wielding the same deadly consequences.
