Karachi blast: Why a highly-educated Shari Baloch blew herself up

A woman suicide bomber killed four people, including three Chinese nationals, in an attack on a minibus carrying staff from the Confucius Institute at Karachi University in Pakistan on Tuesday.

The Baloch Liberation Army’s (BLA) Majeed Brigade has claimed responsibility for the attack, reported India Today.

Chinese targets have been attacked by separatists from Balochistan in the past too. Separatists have had resentment against mining and energy projects in the region, saying the locals are being pushed off their land, reported AFP.

But, for the first time, a suicide attack was carried out by a Baloch woman. That too a highly-educated woman with degrees like MSc and an MPhil.

We take a look at what led to a woman who used to read the likes of Richard Dawkins, Franz Kafka and Gabriel Garcia Marquez decided to sacrifice herself and kill four others.

WHO WAS SHE?

30-year-old Shari Baloch from Niazar Abad in Balochistan’s Turbat was a mother of two. She had completed MSc in zoology and was pursuing MPhil.

Shari was married to a doctor and was also a science teacher at a secondary school, said the statement released by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).

She had joined the 'special self-sacrifice squad' of the BLA’s Majeed Brigade two years ago. As Shari had two young kids (8 and 5 years old), she was given the option to opt out, but she refused, reported India Today.

Posts on her Twitter account, which was still active for some time after the blast, showed that she was an avid reader. Her collection had books from the likes of British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins to Kafka's The Metamorphosis and Arundhati Roy's Azadi.

SELF-SACRIFICING ATTACK

As a student, Shari was a member of the Baloch Students’ Organisation. She "was aware of Baloch genocide and occupation of Balochistan," said the BLA statement.

After joining the BLA, Shari rendered her services in different units of the Majeed Brigade. Six months ago, she decided that she would stand by her decision of carrying out a self-sacrificing attack. Since then, she was actively involved in the mission, reported India Today.

As claimed by some of experts who have been following developments in Balochistan, none of her family members were directly harmed by Pakistan army.

So, her decision to carry out a sucicide bombing tells that she deeply belived in the cause of liberation of Balochistan. As BLA claimed in the letter, the group wants Pakistan to withdraw its presence from Balochistan and for China to stop its expansionism in the region.

In a tweet, Shari Baloch had said goodbye to her friends before blowing herself up at Karachi University.

Following the blast, Habitan Bashir Baloch, a man claiming to be the Shari's husband, put out a tweet saying he was "beaming with pride for her selfless act".

HISTORY OF FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBERS

*According to report in Reuters, the first known female suicide bomber may have been 16-year-old Sana’a Youcef Mehaidli, a member of the secular Syrian Social Nationalist Party. In April 1985, She drove a vehicle into an Israeli Defense Force convoy in Lebanon, killing two soldiers.

*On May 21, 1991 Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, a female militant with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), carried out a suicide bombing killing Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at an election campaign rally in Tamil Nadu.

*In the early 2000s, while Russia was engaged in violent war with Chechenya, many such attacks were carried out by female suicide bombers who the press had named ‘Black Widows’ because many had lost their husbands during the conflict, said a report in King's College London’s website.

*In December 2005, two female suicide bombers killed at least 27 police officers and students and wounded another 32 in an attack at the Baghdad Police Academy in Iraq, reported AFP.

*In 2008, two female suicide bombers killed 99 people in attacks at two popular pet markets in Iraq's capital Baghdad, reported Reuters.

*African Jihadist group Boko Haram is notorious for suicide bombings and many of the bombers are young women and girls who on most occasions were abducted by them, said a report in the Council on Foreign Relations.