Quetta bomb blast

In all probability, the terror attack on Thursday night in Quetta is aimed at inflicting economic harm on Pakistan as it has come only days after the government announced its first-ever National Security Policy placing emphasis on geo-economics instead of geo-politics. The remotely-controlled bomb blast killed four people and left several others injured. This is the second bomb explosion in the provincial capital since the third week of November. Earlier, a terror attack took place close to a luxury hotel in the city.

Terrorists have been targeting Balochistan off and on with the intention of causing a sense of fear and anxiety in the people, sowing political discord and instability in the province where the strategically and economically significant Gwadar Port is located. Their main aim is to keep Balochistan in turmoil, thereby damaging the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor of which the Gwadar Port is a vital component providing a short and efficient international trade link.

However, the security agencies and security forces are alert to foil the enemies’ sinister designs against the country as the situation indicates. They must be prepared to frustrate plans of anti-Pakistan forces who might try to harm CPEC, Gwadar Port, economic and other interests of the country. The major aims of the enemies are to derail CPEC and projects related to it as the terror activities in Balochistan show. The authorities have acquitted themselves well as the sharp decline in terror attacks in the country demonstrates.

The prevailing situation in the region should be kept in mind while making plans to counter terror threats. Terrorists, funded and armed by enemy countries, might increase attacks to deflect people’s attention, in these countries, from domestic issues, which are either hard to resolve or governments in these countries deliberately ignore them or they themselves create such issues to exploit them to their own advantage. Earlier on the same day, the government had set at rest the concerns of people’s representatives from Balochistan over issues with regard to the Reko Diq project. The timing of the bomb blast shows that the terrorists also aimed at harming national unity and solidarity.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2022.

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