Why are Pakistani militants targeting Chinese workers, infra projects?

Why are Pakistani militants targeting Chinese workers, infra projects?

Days after the Shehbaz Sharif-led government took charge, separatists and Islamist militants in Pakistan have stepped up attacks on Chinese-funded infrastructure projects and their personnel, prompting Beijing — Islamabad’s all-weather ally — to demand a “thorough probe” and the arrest of the “perpetrators”.

On March 26, five Chinese nationals working on a major dam construction site were killed along with their driver when a suicide bomber targeted their vehicle in northwest Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, officials said.

Their vehicle plunged into a deep ravine off the mountainous Karakoram Highway after the bomber rammed his car into them and detonated his explosives, police said. No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

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Muhammad Ali Gandapur, a senior provincial police official, told AFP that the vehicle was travelling between the Dasu hydroelectric dam site, under construction by the China Gezhouba Group Company, and Islamabad.

Beijing has poured billions of dollars into Pakistan in recent years, but Chinese-funded projects have sparked resentment and their citizens have frequently come under attack.

In 2021, a bus carrying engineers to the same construction site was hit by a bomb, killing 13 people including nine Chinese workers.

Recent attacks

The suicide bombing comes days after security forces killed eight militants as they attempted to storm the offices of Gwadar Port in southwest Pakistan, considered a cornerstone of Chinese investment.

The militants had detonated a number of bombs before launching a shooting attack and trying to storm the complex on March 20. Two soldiers were also killed, according to a Pakistan army statement.

On March 25, militants attacked a Pakistan naval airbase, killing at least one paramilitary soldier while security forces killed all five of the assailants in retaliatory fire.

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The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of several separatist groups in Balochistan, claimed responsibility for the assault on the Turbat airbase in southwestern Pakistan.

The naval airbase is significant to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that has seen tens of billions of dollars funnelled into massive transport, energy and infrastructure projects — part of Beijing’s transnational Belt and Road Initiative.

“Strategic projects and sensitive sites vital for Pakistan’s economic progress and the well-being of its people are being targeted as a conscious effort to retard our progress and sow discord between Pakistan and its strategic allies and partners, most notably China,” the army said.

Baloch separatists

Baloch separatist groups say locals see little benefit from major Chinese projects, with most jobs going to outsiders. The Baloch movement draws its strength from the popular protests against Chinese-backed projects in Gwadar.

In the past, local residents vented their ire when authorities started fencing the port city to protect CPEC projects from insurgent attacks.

Pakistan is home to twin insurgencies — one by Islamists and the other ethnic militants seeking secession. Islamists mostly operate in Pakistan’s northwest, the area where the convoy was attacked on March 26.

The security of Chinese workers has long been of concern to both countries.

“The Chinese workers were already scared and feared that another attack was coming,” Azeem Khalid, a Chinese investment expert at COMSATS University Islamabad, told AFP. “With every such incident, the speed of the [Dasu dam] project will be slower.”

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In 2019, gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in Balochistan province overlooking the flagship Chinese-backed deep-water seaport in Gwadar that gives strategic access to the Arabian Sea, killing at least eight people.

In June 2020, Baloch insurgents targeted the Pakistan Stock Exchange, which is partly owned by Chinese companies, in the commercial capital of Karachi.

“In order to build highways and the port’s infrastructure, land has been expropriated without the rightful owners receiving a penny of compensation,” Italian journalist Francesca Marino wrote in her book, Balochistan: Bruised, Battered and Bloodied.

“Furthermore, the promised jobs have, in Balochistan’s case, gone to workers ‘imported’ from other provinces of Pakistan instead of to the local people. In the province alone, 15,000 soldiers have been deployed to ‘protect’ the Chinese workers and the investment,” she wrote.

China demands thorough probe

The Chinese embassy in Islamabad described the March 26 bombing as a “terrorist act” in a statement reported by Beijing’s state media.

“The Chinese embassy and consulates in Pakistan strongly condemn this terrorist act, and express deep condolences for the victims of both countries and extend sincere sympathies to the families of the victims,” the embassy said.

And Beijing’s foreign ministry urged Pakistan to “thoroughly investigate the incident as soon as possible, hunt down the perpetrators, and bring them to justice”.

“We ask Pakistan to take effective measures to ensure the safety and security of Chinese nationals, projects and institutions in Pakistan,” a spokesperson said.

How CPEC worsened Pak’s debt woes

Pakistan’s economic situation is dire, and without long-overdue structural reforms, the country faces a significant risk of financial default.

The staggering debt levels, amounting to nearly $125bn owed to external creditors by 2023, with approximately one-third owed to China, are the primary cause of Pakistan’s economic woes.

As much as 98% of China’s development funding for its all-weather ally Pakistan came in the form of “less-than-generous loans”, with only 2% coming in the form of grants between 2000 and 2021, according to a research report.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a global infrastructure and investment initiative by Beijing, was launched in 2013. It is thought to be the largest partnership of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It increased to over $62bn over time, and at least $25bn was invested in cash-strapped Pakistan.

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“Out of the total Chinese development finance portfolio of $70.3bn, committed between 2000 and 2021 in Pakistan, 8% was official development assistance [grants and highly concessional loans] and 89% was other official sector loans,” The News reported last year, quoting AidData, a US-based research lab.

With $14bn in finance commitments, 2017 was the top year for Pakistan; following a decline in 2018, the amount increased again in 2019 and 2020, even with the pandemic. With a 9.84-year maturity and a 3.74-year grace period, the average interest rate on loans is 3.72%, the AidData said.

“[But] it’s worrying that Chinese less-than-generous loans coupled with Pakistan’s mismanagement have made Pakistan’s debt load even higher,” it added.

AidData estimated that Pakistan’s outstanding public and publicly guaranteed debt to China stood at $67.2bn, which is 19.6% of the GDP, and $21.2bn more than what Pakistan officially reported to the World Bank’s Debtor Reporting System, the media report said.

Beijing is Islamabad’s closest regional ally, readily providing financial assistance to bail out its often struggling neighbour.

“China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners and iron-clad friends,” China’s foreign ministry said. “Any attempt to undermine China-Pakistan cooperation will never succeed.”

Pak blames ‘foreign elements’

Prime Minister Sharif is expected to visit Beijing next week, according to a source in the Prime Minister’s Office, his first since taking office following February elections.

After the March 26 attack, Sharif went to the Chinese embassy to offer condolences to victims’ families and the Chinese government, the embassy said.

A Pakistani military statement said the three attacks in the last week were aimed at destabilising the internal security situation, accusing “foreign elements” of aiding and abetting such incidents in Pakistan, without giving further details.

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Pakistan’s Indian Ocean port of Gwadar, on the route to key Gulf shipping lanes, is managed by China, while nearby naval air base Siddique is used to support security and development work, spearheaded by Beijing, in Balochistan. Both were attacked in recent days by Baloch separatists.

Foreign minister Ishaq Dar condemned the suicide attack and said Pakistan would continue to fight back against militants.

Pakistan’s foreign office said the life and safety of Chinese nationals in Pakistan was of paramount importance.

“Pakistan will continue to work with our Chinese brothers in ensuring the safety and security of Chinese nationals, projects and institutions in Pakistan,” it said in a statement.

Rise in extremist violence

Extremist violence in Pakistan has surged since the Taliban’s takeover of neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021, leading to heightened tensions between Islamabad and Taliban officials.

For decades, India has been a victim of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, including the 2001 Parliament attack, the 26/11 Mumbai carnage and numerous terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir.

But India’s decisive action in the form of surgical strikes in 2016 in response to the Uri attack and the Balakot airstrikes to avenge the deaths of 40 security personnel killed in the Pulwama bombing yielded results. The government said in December 2022 that terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir have decreased by 168% since 2015.

In contrast, Pakistan seems to be paying a heavy price for harbouring terrorist elements on its soil with the country witnessing a 70% increase by militant attacks in 2023 alone.

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Last year, Pakistan witnessed 1,524 violence-related fatalities and 1,463 injuries from 789 terror attacks and counter-terror operations, including nearly 1,000 fatalities among civilians and security forces personnel, Dawn reported citing data analysed by the Centre for Research and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank.

Overall fatalities, including those of terrorists, marked a record six-year high, exceeding the 2018 level and highest since 2017. Moreover, the country saw a surge in violence for the third consecutive year with an uptick recorded each year beginning from 2021.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces were the primary centres of violence, accounting for over 90% of all fatalities and 84% of attacks, including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations, recorded during this period. Punjab and Sindh were relatively peaceful as together, both these provinces suffered only 8% of all fatalities in 2023.

Another report by Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, also an Islamabad-based think tank, claimed that the country witnessed a staggering 69% rise in militant attacks, an 81% increase in resultant deaths, and a 60% surge in the number of wounded.

“The year 2023 witnessed at least 641 militant attacks across the country in which 974 people were killed and 1,351 injured. The year 2022 had witnessed 380 militant attacks resulting in 539 deaths and 836 injuries… By combining militant attacks and security forces actions the country saw over a thousand violent incidents in which 1,511 people were killed and 1,440 injured,” it said.

With inputs from agencies.

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