In what is becoming an increasingly regular occurrence, a militant group carried out a deadly attack against Chinese citizens in Pakistan. The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for a suicide car-bombing outside Karachi airport on Sunday that killed two Chinese workers and injured at least eight other people. Despite the Pakistani government’s constant security guarantees, Chinese investments and personnel continue to face a perilous environment in a country at the heart of China’s regional development strategy. Adil Jawad from the Associated Press provided more details on the attack:
Police and the provincial government said a tanker exploded near what is Pakistan’s largest airport. Video showed flames engulfing cars and a thick column of smoke rising from the scene. There was a heavy military deployment at the site, which was cordoned off.
A Chinese Embassy statement said that a convoy carrying Chinese staff of the Port Qasim Electric Power Company (Private) Limited had been attacked around 11 p.m., killing two Chinese and injuring one other. It said there were Pakistani casualties as well.
Thousands of Chinese workers are in Pakistan, most of them involved in Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which is building major infrastructure projects to improve trade routes with the rest of the world.
[…] Rahat Hussain, who works in the civil aviation department, said Sunday’s blast in Karachi was so big that it shook the airport’s buildings. [Source]
The attack occurred a week before Pakistan is scheduled to host a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, adding to anxieties over the country’s ability to safeguard high-profile Chinese and other international guests. A top security official in Islamabad anonymously told Reuters “that the latest attack was a security failure and that all senior staff responsible for Chinese security in Karachi had been removed from service.” The Chinese embassy in Pakistan urged its citizens to reconsider travel plans to the country. Enoch Wong from the South China Morning Post described the reactions from the Chinese and Pakistani governments:
Beijing called on Islamabad to “severely punish” the attackers. A Monday statement from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Beijing was “shocked” by the event.
“China calls on the Pakistan side to plug security loopholes and take specific action to protect the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Chinese nationals … in Pakistan,” it said.
In response to Sunday’s attack, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated its commitment to safeguarding Chinese citizens and projects.
“Pakistan and China are iron brothers,” it said in a statement. “Pakistan’s security and law enforcement agencies will spare no effort in apprehending the perpetrators and their facilitators. This barbaric act will not go unpunished.”
[…] “Pakistan stands committed to safeguarding our Chinese friends. We will leave no stone unturned to ensure their security and well-being,” [Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif] said. [Source]
Speaking to the Global Times, Cheng Xizhong, a senior research fellow specializing in South Asian affairs, argued “that the primary cause of the current security challenges in Pakistan [is] terrorist forces spilling over from other countries, along with the influence of external forces seeking to hold back Pakistan’s development.” But residents of Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan, where the BLA originates, have criticized the central government for exploiting their natural resources, failing to provide equitable development, and repressing local protest movements. The BLA argues that Chinese investment in Pakistan only serves to support the central government at the expense of the people of Balochistan. Haroon Janjua from DW shared perspectives from experts and locals describing the perceived failure of Chinese engagement in the region:
“The attacks have been rising for quite some time, a reflection of increasingly emboldened separatist militants angry about Chinese investments, and a growing capacity to carry out these types of operations,” Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told DW.
[…] “A decade after the launch of [the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor], the promises of transforming Gwadar into a city akin to Shenzhen, Hong Kong, or Dubai have not been fulfilled,” Kiyya Baloch, a journalist and commentator who has extensively covered Balochistan, told DW, adding that the peace movements oppose the policies of Beijing and Islamabad toward the province.
[…] “China or any other country investing in Balochistan is directly involved in the Baloch genocide. The [Pakistani authorities’] enforced disappearances and forced displacements in the Makran coastal belt are huge. They are looting our resources with no gain to local Baloch,” [said Mahrang Baloch, leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, a rights group campaigning for the civil, political, and socioeconomic rights of the Baloch]. [Source]
Sunday’s attack is the latest in a long list of similar militant attacks by the BLA and other armed groups at odds with the Pakistani and Chinese governments. In August, the BLA carried out a series of coordinated attacks that killed 73 people across numerous provinces in Pakistan. In March, the BLA killed six people in an attack on a convoy of Chinese engineers. In 2022, the BLA carried out a fatal attack near the Confucius Institute of Karachi University. In 2021, the BLA killed four people in a car bombing outside a hotel where the Chinese ambassador was staying. In 2018, a BLA attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi resulted in four deaths.
