Fact Check: Viral video of BLA leaders issuing warning is an old one, circulating online since May 2019
Indian military forces attacked 9 terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 7, 2025, killing
Claim :
Viral video shows representatives of Balochistan Liberation Army warning China and PakistanFact :
Viral video of BLA leaders issuing warning is an old one, circulating online since May 2019
Indian military forces attacked 9 terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 7, 2025, killing several terrorists. Following this, at least 12 Pakistani soldiers, including two senior officers, were killed in a powerful IED blast targeting a military convoy in Balochistan’s Kachhi district. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for the attack, which reportedly struck the unit en route to a security operation. The Pakistan Army has launched a sanitisation operation following the ambush. The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) is a group operating in Pakistan, known for its insurgency in Balochistan. The group has carried out multiple attacks in recent years.
Amidst this, a video shows masked individuals sitting together, and a man among them talking to the camera. The man is heard saying that the motive of their attack is very clear: it is a message to China and Pakistan to withdraw immediately from Balochistan. This warning was also given by General Aslam Baloch. The operations are to safeguard Balochistan. The video is circulating with the caption “Baloch Liberation Army issues a chilling warning to China and Pakistan: 'Withdraw from Balochistan if you don't want to die'".
Here is the archive link of the claim:
Fact check:
The claim is Misleading. The video in circulation is not recent.
When we extracted keyframes from the viral video and searched them using Google reverse image search, we found that the video is an old one and was posted in 2019.
We found a tweet shared by a user named Hrutik Tidke stating that the viral video being circulated is from May 2019. It was released by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) after their attack on the Pearl Continental Hotel in Gwadar on 11 May 2019. It has NO connection to current events.
X user Tarek Fateh, a Pakistani-Canadian journalist and author, shared the same video on May 20, 2019, stating that ‘Baloch Liberation Army #BLA issues warning to President Xi Jinping of #China: "U still have time to quit #Balochistan or u will witness retaliation from #Baloch sons & daughters who will turn Balochistan into your graveyard.”’
An X user named Shehzad Hussain shared the video on May 20, 2019, with the caption ‘President Xi Jinping, you still have time to quit Balochistan, or you will witness a retaliation from Baloch sons and daughters that you will never forget,” the BLA Majeed Brigade commander threatens in a newly released video message. #China #Balochistan #CPEC #Gwader
Upon further research on the recent statements released by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), we found that the BLA has threatened to execute ten Pakistani hostages in retaliation for drone strikes and artillery shelling by Pakistani forces. It has also issued a 48-hour ultimatum, demanding Pakistan release forcibly disappeared activists amidst the ongoing hostage situation in Balochistan’s Bolan district in March 2025, not recently.
In a video the BLA released recently, it claimed responsibility for an IED attack in Balochistan’s Kacchi district, resulting in the death of 14 Pakistani Army Soldiers, including a Special Operations Commander.
Therefore, even though the Balochistan Liberation Army has been fighting the Pakistan Army, the video in circulation with the claim that they released a warning to Pakistan and China is an old one, from the year 2019. The claim is Misleading.