May 21, 2022 marks the 71st anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Pakistan For a long time, under the careful cultivation of successive leaders and people from all walks of life，the friendship between China and Pakistan is like a thriving tree with deep roots. China-Pakistan friendship is becoming increasingly deeply rooted in the hearts of the two peoples.In Pakistan there is an Urdu poem: “The beautiful image of a friend is in the mirror of my heart, and if you bow down, you can see it.”When Xi Jinping came to Pakistan for his first annual visit in April 2015 he used this Urdu poem to describe China-Pakistan friendship.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a benchmark project of China’s “Belt and Road”initiative. It starts from Kashgar in Xinjiang in the north and Gwadar Port in Pakistan in the south. It is a trade corridor including roads railways, oil and gas pipelines and communications and optical cables. With an investment scale of more than US $30 billion, the whole project is the “flagship project” in the “Belt and Road’ construction plan. The project runs through several provinces in Pakistan, from Gwadar, Balochistan, through Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan eventually to the Khunjarab Pass and to China.
CPECis conduciveto promoting employment and its development outcomes will benefit the grassroots in Pakistan. The road infrastructure project is expected to create 51,000 jobs, more than 94 percent of which will be offered to local Pakistanis. All China-Pakistan joint ventures will create 1.2 million jobs, more than 33 percent of which will only be open to Pakistanis. From 2015 to 2030, CPEC will create a total of 2.3 million jobs, bringing more than 2.5% of annual growth to Pakistan’s GDP. At present, the CPEC has carried out many projects, including roads, railways, sea ports, oil and gas pipelines, optical fiber, special economic zones cross-border trade cooperation centers and signing free trade agreements.
Balochistan is the largest province in Pakistan, covering 44% of Pakistan’s land area, with abundant mineral and tourism resources, innate conditions for developing agriculture, fishery, livestock, dairy industries, and 750 km coastline and deep water sea port. With the development of Gwadar FFTA and special economic zones, Balochistan is becoming more attractive to investors.
The Balochi region and Sindh region represented by Gwadar Port are the key construction areas of the CPEC, but there are also multiple security threats to the CPEC in the region, among which national separatist forces are the most direct security threat. Since 2020, Sindh and Balochistan separatism has become increasingly active, and these separatist groups declared an alliance in August 2020, a move that could increase the terrorist threat among Chinese citizens in Karachi.
Pakistan separatism is mainly reflected in the issue of Balochistan, which is closely related to the national separation of Balochistan. The federal government adopted a strict policy on the separation of Balochistan, and the province has been due by the infiltration of certain international forces and the influence of terrorism in the country.
These separatists aim to fight against the Pakistani government and military forces, and constantly attack the Pakistani military and political personnel and facilities. Since 2021, terrorist attacks and bombings in Balochistan and other cities of Pakistan have increased sharply, mostly targeting security personnel and infrastructure.
In recent years, attacks on the CPEC have also increased, killing the lives of innocent Chinese citizens. On 11 August 2018 a suicideattackagainst Chinese engineers in Dalbadin, Balochistan, three Chinese and three local security personnel were injured: on 23 November 2018three militants were killed and two guards were killed; on May 11,2019,the Pearl Intercontinental Hotel near the Free Zone of Gwadar Port, three hotel security personnel were killed. On July 14, 2021 a shuttle bus for the Dasu hydropower station project in KPK Province, contracted by a Chinese company, exploded on its way to the construction site killing nine Chinese people and injuring 28Chinese people. On July 28, 2021, two Chinese citizens in Karachi, Sindh, were shot on a bus out near the Gulbai Bridge injuring one of them. On April 26, 2022, a terrorist attack on a Confucius Institute bus at the University of Karachi Pakistan, killing three Chinese teachers and injuring one.
The frequent attacks on the CPEC in recent years include the strong sense of sovereignty that some Balochistan separatist armed groups recognize China’s investments violates their territorial sovereignty while the majority of which are not hostile to China itself, but they do attack Chinese as a bargaining chip with the Pakistani government. They hopes to put pressure on the Pakistani government through attacking Chinese property and citizens as a way to rebel against the Pakistani government, because CPEC is a project signed by the Pakistani government and China.
For these reasons, they blew up many gas pipelines, Bridges, roads, fleets, trains and attacked Chinese engineers to drive Chinese investors and pressure the Pakistani government through this tough crackdown on development. Baloch separatist groups have posed a growing threat to the CPEC, including threatening the personal safety of local Chinese personnel, hindering the smooth progress of the project, and increasing the security and maintenance costs of the project.But in any case, fighting for their own interests is not a reason for Baloch to undermine the CPEC let alone killing innocent Chinese citizens. The Chinese Foreign Ministry, the Chinese Embassy and Consulate in Pakistan have immediately launched the emergency response mechanism for the terrorist attack at the Confucius Institute on April 26 this year. Assistant Minister Wu Jianghao sent an urgent call to Pakistan Ambassador to China to express his serious concern and asked the Pakistani side to thoroughly investigate the matter and punish the murderer in accordance with the law. At the same time, all measures will ensure the safety of Chinese citizens in Pakistan and never allow such incidents to happen again. China’s Foreign Ministry also later published an article saying that it would resolutely crack down on the terrorist organizations involved. The Chinese blood cannot flow in vain, and the people behind this incident will surely pay a price.
Now the situation is very serious, in this difficult time only China is coming to Pakistan for investment, for development, for betterment of country and people of Pakistan, Its time to make foolproof security arrangements of Chinese, work hard to deal with separatist groups, and make more better and safe environment for Chinese living in Pakistan.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a benchmark project of China’s “Belt and Road”initiative. It starts from Kashgar in Xinjiang in the north and Gwadar Port in Pakistan in the south. It is a trade corridor including roads railways, oil and gas pipelines and communications and optical cables. With an investment scale of more than US $30 billion, the whole project is the “flagship project” in the “Belt and Road’ construction plan. The project runs through several provinces in Pakistan, from Gwadar, Balochistan, through Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan eventually to the Khunjarab Pass and to China.
CPECis conduciveto promoting employment and its development outcomes will benefit the grassroots in Pakistan. The road infrastructure project is expected to create 51,000 jobs, more than 94 percent of which will be offered to local Pakistanis. All China-Pakistan joint ventures will create 1.2 million jobs, more than 33 percent of which will only be open to Pakistanis. From 2015 to 2030, CPEC will create a total of 2.3 million jobs, bringing more than 2.5% of annual growth to Pakistan’s GDP. At present, the CPEC has carried out many projects, including roads, railways, sea ports, oil and gas pipelines, optical fiber, special economic zones cross-border trade cooperation centers and signing free trade agreements.
Balochistan is the largest province in Pakistan, covering 44% of Pakistan’s land area, with abundant mineral and tourism resources, innate conditions for developing agriculture, fishery, livestock, dairy industries, and 750 km coastline and deep water sea port. With the development of Gwadar FFTA and special economic zones, Balochistan is becoming more attractive to investors.
The Balochi region and Sindh region represented by Gwadar Port are the key construction areas of the CPEC, but there are also multiple security threats to the CPEC in the region, among which national separatist forces are the most direct security threat. Since 2020, Sindh and Balochistan separatism has become increasingly active, and these separatist groups declared an alliance in August 2020, a move that could increase the terrorist threat among Chinese citizens in Karachi.
Pakistan separatism is mainly reflected in the issue of Balochistan, which is closely related to the national separation of Balochistan. The federal government adopted a strict policy on the separation of Balochistan, and the province has been due by the infiltration of certain international forces and the influence of terrorism in the country.
These separatists aim to fight against the Pakistani government and military forces, and constantly attack the Pakistani military and political personnel and facilities. Since 2021, terrorist attacks and bombings in Balochistan and other cities of Pakistan have increased sharply, mostly targeting security personnel and infrastructure.
In recent years, attacks on the CPEC have also increased, killing the lives of innocent Chinese citizens. On 11 August 2018 a suicideattackagainst Chinese engineers in Dalbadin, Balochistan, three Chinese and three local security personnel were injured: on 23 November 2018three militants were killed and two guards were killed; on May 11,2019,the Pearl Intercontinental Hotel near the Free Zone of Gwadar Port, three hotel security personnel were killed. On July 14, 2021 a shuttle bus for the Dasu hydropower station project in KPK Province, contracted by a Chinese company, exploded on its way to the construction site killing nine Chinese people and injuring 28Chinese people. On July 28, 2021, two Chinese citizens in Karachi, Sindh, were shot on a bus out near the Gulbai Bridge injuring one of them. On April 26, 2022, a terrorist attack on a Confucius Institute bus at the University of Karachi Pakistan, killing three Chinese teachers and injuring one.
The frequent attacks on the CPEC in recent years include the strong sense of sovereignty that some Balochistan separatist armed groups recognize China’s investments violates their territorial sovereignty while the majority of which are not hostile to China itself, but they do attack Chinese as a bargaining chip with the Pakistani government. They hopes to put pressure on the Pakistani government through attacking Chinese property and citizens as a way to rebel against the Pakistani government, because CPEC is a project signed by the Pakistani government and China.
For these reasons, they blew up many gas pipelines, Bridges, roads, fleets, trains and attacked Chinese engineers to drive Chinese investors and pressure the Pakistani government through this tough crackdown on development. Baloch separatist groups have posed a growing threat to the CPEC, including threatening the personal safety of local Chinese personnel, hindering the smooth progress of the project, and increasing the security and maintenance costs of the project.But in any case, fighting for their own interests is not a reason for Baloch to undermine the CPEC let alone killing innocent Chinese citizens. The Chinese Foreign Ministry, the Chinese Embassy and Consulate in Pakistan have immediately launched the emergency response mechanism for the terrorist attack at the Confucius Institute on April 26 this year. Assistant Minister Wu Jianghao sent an urgent call to Pakistan Ambassador to China to express his serious concern and asked the Pakistani side to thoroughly investigate the matter and punish the murderer in accordance with the law. At the same time, all measures will ensure the safety of Chinese citizens in Pakistan and never allow such incidents to happen again. China’s Foreign Ministry also later published an article saying that it would resolutely crack down on the terrorist organizations involved. The Chinese blood cannot flow in vain, and the people behind this incident will surely pay a price.
Now the situation is very serious, in this difficult time only China is coming to Pakistan for investment, for development, for betterment of country and people of Pakistan, Its time to make foolproof security arrangements of Chinese, work hard to deal with separatist groups, and make more better and safe environment for Chinese living in Pakistan.
