Monday's car bomb attack at Gwadar that resulted in the death of three Chinese engineers, their Pakistani driver and a police security guard, also causing injuries to nine others, is nearly as bewildering as it is appalling.
After all, China is commonly seen as Pakistan's most trusted friend, having stood by this nation through thick and thin. Why would anyone want to kill its citizens?
Apparently, this act of terrorism is not the handiwork of the usual suspects, the religious extremists, who were found to be involved in a similar attack on French Naval engineers, but had later claimed it was a case of mistaken identity. There is no way anyone could mistake the Chinese engineers as American or British, whom the extremists view as their enemies.
The security agencies, in fact, have arrested 13 suspects, most of whom are local people from Turbat and Tando Adam.
Only three are outsiders: two Bengalis and one person from Gilgit. President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali strongly condemned the attacks and directed the authorities concerned to take all possible measures for arresting and punishing the culprits.
China is also sending a team of officials to join in the investigation of the abominable incident.
The first phase of the Gwadar project was to be completed in September, this year. Pakistan has also signed, the very next day, a deal to build a nuclear plant at Chashma with Chinese assistance.
It is to be welcomed that the Chinese have given the assurance that they would continue the projects, reflecting their determination to meet their commitments.
The Chinese have been helping Pakistan build the prestigious deep sea Gwadar port project, which is to serve as a great hub of economic activity, linking the resource-rich Central Asian republics with trade and commerce centres in the east and the west.
Needless to say, the project is to bring economic benefits not only to the country as a whole but also to the local people.
However, certain elements in Balochistan do not like some of the things taking place in the Gwadar area. During the recent days, the province's nationalist leaders, who also happen to be tribal chieftains, have been openly threatening the government of dire consequences if the work went ahead as per the plan.
Some of their grievances may, in fact, be arguable like when they object to the large-scale sale of the land to people who do not belong to Balochistan. But nothing can justify terrorism against innocent civilians who are here to help.
The bloody incident must serve as a wake-up call for the government. Far too long it has ignored the pervasive lawlessness in Balochistan.
Miscreants there have been routinely using such sophisticated weapons as rockets and grenades to pursue their tribal vendettas and also to destroy gas pipelines, disrupting at will gas supplies to the rest of the country.
It would not be surprising if governmental inaction in the face of such acts of sabotage is found to have emboldened the miscreants to go on to launch a terrorist assault on the Chinese engineers in order to disrupt the work on the Gwadar port.
It is of utmost importance that no leniency is shown to those responsible for this bloody crime.
The security agencies have moved quickly and apprehended the alleged culprits, which is commendable. It would not be enough, though, to punish only those who carried out the attack, but those behind them, no matter how influential they might be, must also be made to pay for it.
Balochistan is a deeply conservative society, and an international port, with its urban liberal mores, may be seen by some to jar with its traditional ways. So even after the suspects are caught and brought to justice that would not remove the underlying misconceptions and false allegations about the project and rule out further attacks.
The government should also devise means to develop indigenous human skills and resources so that there is a feeling of involvement amongst the local population and they have a clear idea of the opportunities and prosperity the project would bring them inevitably in due course.
As expected, the Chinese Harbour Engineering Company, to whom the victims of terrorism belonged, has vowed to continue its work on the Gwadar port.
The company's representatives called on the Balochistan Governor, Owais Ghani, and Chief Minister Jam Yousaf in Gwadar on Monday, and told them that neither the Pak-China friendship nor the port project would be affected because of such incidents.
Of course, such happenings cannot deter nations from pursuing what they deem important, but these can surely discourage others from coming and doing similar work in this country.
The government, therefore, must sort out the problems that have been repeatedly resulting in violence and sabotage activities in Balochistan.
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