A young man from Panjgur spending days inside a terrorist camp in the mountains, receiving weapons training and being drawn toward violence against his own countrymen. Saeed Ahmed, son of Dad Jan and a resident of Chitkan, Panjgur, has now returned to his family, publicly acknowledging that he was misled into joining a banned terrorist organisation BLA and vowing to stay away from violence.
Speaking at a press conference at the Panjgur Press Club alongside his father and brother, Saeed described how he was persuaded by a friend to leave his normal life and enter a terrorist camp in Manguchar. What initially appeared to be an opportunity or invitation ultimately took him into an environment where he received approximately 15 days of target-shooting training against security forces and people of Balochistan.
The ability of terrorist networks to exploit personal relationships and the trust of young people before drawing them into organised violence.
Saeed said he regretted the decision and made a public commitment to the State of Pakistan, pledging that he would not participate in illegal activities again. His return was facilitated through continued engagement by his family and efforts by security institutions, turning what could have become a permanent recruitment into an opportunity for disengagement and rehabilitation.
The banned BLA’s use of such networks ultimately places not only Pakistani security forces at risk but also workers, traders and development projects have repeatedly been caught in the violence.
A young person does not necessarily enter a terrorist organisation as a fully committed extremist. Recruitment can begin with friendship, manipulation, financial inducement, political propaganda or emotional vulnerability, before progressing toward ideological conditioning, isolation, weapons training and participation in violence. The BLA and other terrorist networks exploit precisely this progression to replenish their ranks and sustain their campaigns.
Saeed’s decision to walk away is a direct rejection of the recruitment pipeline that terrorist organisations depend upon. His return demonstrates that family intervention, community engagement and rehabilitation can create an alternative to a path deliberately constructed by terrorist recruiters.
Against this backdrop, the government’s response has increasingly included a rehabilitation and deradicalisation component, rather than relying exclusively on counterterrorism operations.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti has backed initiatives aimed at establishing deradicalisation centres that can provide a pathway for individuals willing to abandon terrorist activity. The approach incorporates family engagement, dialogue and psychological support, with the broader objective of enabling individuals to return to society as productive citizens.
The policy reflects an important recognition: defeating terrorism is not only about destroying terrorist networks after they have recruited young people; it is also about preventing those networks from recruiting them in the first place. Security operations are disrupt camps, eliminate terrorist infrastructure and apprehend facilitators and the rehabilitation, education, family support and legitimate opportunities can help close the recruitment pipeline.
Saeed chose to return to his family.
