Pakistan: What is behind attacks on Chinese nationals?

The Chinese embassy in Pakistan has confirmed that two Chinese nationals were killed and one injured in an explosion near the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi on Sunday.

A total of three people were killed and at least 11 were wounded in what Pakistani authorities described as a "terror attack."

According to the Chinese embassy statement, a convoy was carrying Chinese staff of the Port Qasim Electric Power Company (Private) Limited when it was targeted.

Pakistan's Foreign Office said on Monday that the assailants will "not go unpunished."

"[…] 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," the statement said.

Reuters news agency reported that the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist militant group, claimed responsibility for the Sunday attack.

What are Chinese nationals doing in Pakistan?

Thousands of Chinese workers in Pakistan are primarily engaged in Beijing's China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, which is part of its multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

China announced CPEC in 2015 with the aim of expanding its trade links and influence in Pakistan and across Central and South Asia.

The idea behind the project was to connect China's western Xinjiang province with the sea via Pakistan. This would shorten trade routes for China and help avoid the contentious Malacca Strait choke point, a narrow waterway between Malaysia and the Indonesian island of Sumatra that links the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Pakistan, meanwhile, would benefit from increases in trade, infrastructure and industry along the 2,000-kilometer corridor (1,240 miles), all financed by China.

Even though the project would enhance connectivity and support economic growth, many in the Balochistan province, which is central to CPEC, oppose it.

What is the Balochistan conflict all about?

Balochistan, Pakistan's southwestern province that borders Afghanistan and Iran, is the country's poorest and least populous province. Rebel groups have waged a separatist insurgency there for decades, complaining that Islamabad and the richer Punjab province unfairly exploit their resources.

The Pakistani government has tried to put an end to the insurgency militarily.

Baloch separatists claim that the Chinese are investing in Gwadar, a small fishing city in Balochistan that plays a key role in the CPEC project, to exploit the province's natural resources.

China's projects across the province, and in other parts of the country, including the southern port city of Karachi, have been targeted by Baloch militants for years.

In 2018, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) attacked the Chinese consulate in Karachi. In April 2021, a suicide attack outside a luxury hotel in the southwestern city of Quetta where the Chinese ambassador was staying killed four people and injured dozens.

In recent years, the BLA has stepped up attacks, targeting the Pakistani military in retaliation for providing security for China's projects.

In August, the BLA launched coordinated attacks in the province, in which more than 70 people were killed.

"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.

More rights for Balochistan

Apart from militant groups that are fighting against Islamabad, there are several political parties and civil rights groups that are peacefully demanding rights for the province and the Baloch people.

These groups have sharply criticized Pakistani authorities' actions in the province, accusing the military and its intelligence agencies of committing grave human rights abuses.

Analysts say the recent mass protests in Balochistan highlight growing discontent among the local population.

"A decade after the launch of CPEC, 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.

At the heart of recent demonstrations in Balochistan is the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), a rights group campaigning for the civil, political and socioeconomic rights of the Baloch. The movement has mobilized people and organized huge rallies across the region.

Mahrang Baloch, the BYC leader, told DW that they were organizing "a movement against Baloch genocide," accusing Pakistani authorities of carrying out thousands of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.

"China or any other country investing in Balochistan is directly involved in the Baloch genocide. The enforced disappearances and forced displacements in the Makran coastal belt are huge. They are looting our resources with no gain to local Baloch," she said.

A volatile situation

But the Pakistani military labeled the BYC as "proxies" for what it called terrorists and criminal mafias.

"Their strategy is gathering crowds with foreign funding, inciting unrest among the people, challenging government authority through stone pelting, vandalism and making unreasonable demands," Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the head of the military's media wing, told reporters in August.

"But when the state takes action, they portray themselves as innocent victims," he added.

Qamar Cheema, a defense analyst, described the province's security situation as "volatile," citing rampant militant attacks on military installations.

"To counter the situation, where Beijing has invested enormously, there needs to be peace and stability, and the state must act to bring the situation under control," he told DW.

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru