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https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/c...or-its-overtures-in-balochistan-13810493.html
he so-called ‘iron brothers’ are suppressing the Balochs with iron hands, reactions to which both will have to bear
 "China will have to pay the price for its overtures in Balochistan")
In complete chorus with Pakistan, China dubs the Balochs as separatists and terrorists. Image: AFP
The attacks in Balochistan this week, which coincided with a high-profile Chinese military official, General Li Qiaoming’s visit to Islamabad, assume great significance. It is one of nearly a dozen attacks in the last six years unleashed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a radical Baloch organisation. The BLA explains these attacks as a response to the ubiquitous Sino-Pakistan nexus to put down the Baloch movement for an independent state. The attacks too showcase the umbrage the BLA has taken against the Chinese government, which has been Pakistan’s principal benefactor for decades.
The day of the attack, August 26, 2024, is symbolic as it marked the 18th death anniversary of the tallest Baloch leader, Nawab Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti. Many Balochs decry the Chinese involvement in the killing of Nawab Bugti in August 2006. It is essential to mention that Pakistan’s Deep State killed Nawab Bugti in a military operation a few months after President Pervez Musharraf visited China in February 2006, which preceded the killing of three Chinese engineers in Hub (Balochistan) in an attack by Baloch rebels.
The present attacks could, therefore, be precisely the BLA’s follow-up action (on Bugti’s death anniversary) against the Chinese Foreign Ministry delegation’s visit to Gwadar last month (July 2024). The Baloch people find something fishy about the visit by a Chinese delegation amidst massive protests in Gwadar by Baloch people against Pakistan over rampant human rights abuses, enforced disappearances, and the exploitation of Balochistan’s natural resources. The question arises how, despite the critical local situation, the Chinese delegation dared to initiate dialogue on phase II of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which the Balochs have been opposing tooth and nail since the day of its inception.
he so-called ‘iron brothers’ are suppressing the Balochs with iron hands, reactions to which both will have to bear
In complete chorus with Pakistan, China dubs the Balochs as separatists and terrorists. Image: AFP
The attacks in Balochistan this week, which coincided with a high-profile Chinese military official, General Li Qiaoming’s visit to Islamabad, assume great significance. It is one of nearly a dozen attacks in the last six years unleashed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a radical Baloch organisation. The BLA explains these attacks as a response to the ubiquitous Sino-Pakistan nexus to put down the Baloch movement for an independent state. The attacks too showcase the umbrage the BLA has taken against the Chinese government, which has been Pakistan’s principal benefactor for decades.
The day of the attack, August 26, 2024, is symbolic as it marked the 18th death anniversary of the tallest Baloch leader, Nawab Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti. Many Balochs decry the Chinese involvement in the killing of Nawab Bugti in August 2006. It is essential to mention that Pakistan’s Deep State killed Nawab Bugti in a military operation a few months after President Pervez Musharraf visited China in February 2006, which preceded the killing of three Chinese engineers in Hub (Balochistan) in an attack by Baloch rebels.
The present attacks could, therefore, be precisely the BLA’s follow-up action (on Bugti’s death anniversary) against the Chinese Foreign Ministry delegation’s visit to Gwadar last month (July 2024). The Baloch people find something fishy about the visit by a Chinese delegation amidst massive protests in Gwadar by Baloch people against Pakistan over rampant human rights abuses, enforced disappearances, and the exploitation of Balochistan’s natural resources. The question arises how, despite the critical local situation, the Chinese delegation dared to initiate dialogue on phase II of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which the Balochs have been opposing tooth and nail since the day of its inception.
