EDITORIAL: It was only a matter of time before the Chinese expressed unreserved concern about the way their nationals working in Pakistan are being targeted and killed once again. Pakistan knows the drill, of course, but the fact that the Chinese felt compelled to tell us how to proceed shows in no uncertain terms that they are, quite naturally, very upset that such attacks can happen in such quick succession and still manage to leave the Pakistani government clueless. The latest incident featured a suicide attacker trying to hit a vehicle carrying Chinese workers from the Gwadar port, and it left three people injured and two children, who just happened to be playing in the area at the time, dead. Just a few days ago, it was a Chinese engineer who had just arrived in Karachi that was shot at and wounded by gunmen on a motorcycle, who were obviously able to slip away very easily. And on July 14, a bus carrying Chinese workers to or from the Dasu dam, which they were working on, was also attacked by a suicide bomber who managed to take 13 lives and also injure 28 people.
The Dasu attack was claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) and the Gwadar attack by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). So the Chinese are probably left wondering about the fate of their CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) investments in Balochistan, where at least two outlawed militant brigades are openly challenging the writ of the Pakistani state; to the point that they are clearly bent upon sabotaging the partnership with Beijing. Surely, the Chinese don't expect to tiptoe their way around suicide bombers or look over their shoulder for Baloch terrorists all the way to the finish line. So there's only so long that things can continue this way. They waited for quite a while before coming out openly with their feelings, which began to betray a fair amount of concern after the Dasu attack.
Perhaps they were a little upset that Pakistani authorities tried to downplay the incident in its immediate aftermath; implying that the bus might have plunged into the ravine quite on its own. And it was only later, when the Chinese pressed them - some accounts say they even brought evidence - that Islamabad conceded that a suicide bomber had indeed been up to this dirty work. Islamabad knows that this trend cannot be allowed to continue.
There's no doubt that Pakistan's special geographic location has a lot to do with CPEC being an integral part of the bigger Belt and Road Project - President Xi's vision of recreating the ancient Silk Route, and the bonanza associated with it, in the modern setting. But it's also true that the Chinese, "iron brothers" though they are, will hard put if its opportunity cost becomes unbearably high. Islamabad must, therefore, act immediately and make sure that their concerns are properly addressed. It's not just one project that is in danger. China is not only the largest foreign investor in Pakistan but also a vital ally that shields us whenever the international glare becomes overbearing. Besides, even though a number of important economic indicators seem encouraging enough at long last, the FDI (foreign direct investment) chart is still pretty depressing to watch, so there's a desperate need to prevent any eggs from falling out of this basket.
Now, with Afghanistan's emerging situation making Pakistan even more vulnerable to surprise attacks from TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) terrorists and their associates, the need for vigilance has never been greater. Pakistan has already lost between seventy and eighty thousand people to terrorism. There is no way it can allow any more lives to be taken or the economy to be harmed any further.
Everybody, especially China, is very serious about finally putting a lid on terrorist threats in this country. The coming days and weeks, not months and years, will show which way things are going to go.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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