Terror Strikes in Pakistan: The BLA and China

Pakistan hit by coordinated attacks

Pakistan was hit by two separate attacks, one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) killing 5 Chinese Nationals and 1 Pakistani and another at a naval base, killing 5.

• The attack in KP was conducted by a suicide bomber driving a car full of explosives.
• The attacker smashed his car into the vehicle transporting 5 Chinese nationals working on constructing a hydroelectric dam in Dasu.
• The second attack was carried out by the terror organisation known as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).
• 4 terrorists from this group attempted an infiltration of a Pakistani Naval base but failed, resulting in the military killing all 4. 

Chinese nationals targeted: A disturbing trend.

Pakistan is no stranger to attacks carried out by terror organisations against foreign workers, mainly those from China.

• Since the CPEC launch in 2015, targeting Chinese workers and ambassadors has become prominent among outlawed terror organisations in Pakistan, especially over the last 3 years.
• Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong was targeted yet survived when a Bomb went off near the hotel he was staying at, killing 5 others on the 21^st of April 2021.
• A convoy of 23 Chinese engineers was targeted in Gwadar on the 13^th of August 2023 in which 3 terrorists were killed and all engineers survived.
• 3 Chinese tutors for a University in Karachi were targeted and killed alongside their Pakistani driver on the 26^th of April 2022.
• This wave of increased attacks against foreign nationals could be linked with the political instability Pakistan has seen over the last 3 years allowing for former weakened militant groups to regain their strength, alongside the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.
• The Pakistani Military and Government both accuse the Afghan Taliban of harbouring terrorists from the TTP, who they say are responsible for a heavy majority of attacks on Pakistani soil, primarily against the military and civilians on the western front.
• This has led to the Pakistani Air Force conducting airstrikes against suspected terror cells in Afghanistan, the most recent one on the 18^th March 2024 in which 8 Afghan civilians were killed.

Pakistan’s History with Terrorism

The country has grappled with terrorism over the last 20+ years, especially after involving themselves with the “war on terrorism”.

Since then, over a 10-year period (2000-2010) the nation witnessed a 2500%+ increase in terror attacks, claiming the lives of thousands of Pakistani civilian and military personnel. The epidemic of terrorism within the country was highlighted when the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar claimed the lives of 150 School children and teachers, an act which the entire world condemned. This led to the military taking action, launching large scale operations like Operation Zarb-e-Azb and Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad which oversaw over 350,000 Intelligence Based Operations (IBO’s) and eliminated tens of thousands of terrorists. Since 2014 and the start of these operations, the nation has seen a 300% reduction in terrorism and attacks, signalling the possibility of Pakistan stabilising as a nation after almost 25 years of turmoil and terror. However, with the continuation of attacks similar to those that were seen on the 25^th and 26^th of March, it would be fair to argue that the country has a long way to go in attaining nationwide peace and stability.

Strategic Retaliation: Why the Chinese are targeted.

Pakistan and China have both shared extremely close ties almost since Pakistan’s creation.

• The two nations launched CPEC in 2015, a $51 Billion joint infrastructure network project that is set out to develop Pakistan’s energy, infrastructure and transport sectors in which China will also benefit from. In 2022 CPEC ended but the shared interests and relationship between the two nations did not
• However, despite all this, some Balochis believe that they will not be able see any of these benefits for themselves.
• They also worry that investors from other provinces in Pakistan are buying land at extremely low prices, leaving Balochi’s in a disadvantaged state whilst investors from all over move in and around Gwadar.
• Nationalists and many militant extremists believe this is a takeover, replacing the native population with other ethnicities.
• Officials in the Pakistani and Chinese government fear that unless they can convince the younger generations of Balochis that they will reap the benefits of this multi-billion-dollar project, they will shift more to the beliefs and ideas of the militants, taking up arms against the two states.

There also comes the problem of many Balochis firmly believing that the state refuses to uphold individual human rights of those in the region, allowing for the armed forces to continue with their harsh means of “combatting insurgency” in which, more times than not, the ordinary man rather than insurgents suffers.

• The problems of forced disappearances and deaths squads’ courtesy of the military against Baloch nationalists and civilians’ is what is believed to fuel the bloodshed and constant horrific attacks by the BLA against military and foreign national targets.
• With the BLA holding the firm belief that CPEC benefits their own people in no way and the military and state show no ambition in holding back with the aggression and violence, they resort to what they believe to be the strategic solution to their problem.

The flow of weapons for the BLA comes primarily from Afghanistan with local Taliban commanders selling off leftover US munitions/weapons