Terror in Karachi
A daredevil and apparently well-planned attack on Chinese nationals in Karachi is a worrisome proposition. It is an instant security failure, and confirms that the authorities were not up to mark. The attack which claimed the lives of three people – two of them Chinese engineers engaged with Port Qasim Electric Power Company – and left scores of others injured, on the main thoroughfare near the airport should not be taken as an incident in isolation. The attack on Chinese Confucius Institute at Karachi University in April 2022 and the assault on Chinese Consulate in November 2018 are part of an agenda to shelve foreign investors. The fact that an outlawed Baloch militant entity, Majeed Brigade of Baloch Liberation Army, has once again staked claim makes the equation terrible.
The Chinese citizens have, for quite some time, been on the receiving end in Pakistan, and the canvas of vulnerability spans from Karachi to the restive provinces of Balochistan and K-P. Disgruntled elements, primarily militants and their foreign agents, are meticulously out to hamper big-ticket investment in Pakistan and the multi-billion dollar CPEC has been in the eye of the storm. But what necessitates some deep introspection is that a domestic fallout is now casting wild shadows on foreign relations, and this is where we have collectively failed in reigning in terror. A sizeable populace from the two restive provinces hold out their grievances against the development, and feel that they are not on board in terms of economic dividends and job opportunities. This is where the revulsion rests and has successfully been cashed by vested elements that have resorted to militancy.
Apart from addressing political fissures, it warrants some soul-searching as to why terror remnants are raising their ugly heads as Pakistan tries to realise the mosaic of connectivity in the region. Chinese form the lifeline for Pakistan's economic wheel, and must stand protected. Time to graduate from mere determinations to a foolproof strategy to usher in confidence at home and abroad by ploughing out the terror nexus in all sincerity.