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Eight Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) attackers of the Majeed Brigade died and two Pakistani soldiers too when they attacked the Gwadar port authority colony on Wednesday. This is by far one of the most serious attacks in recent years specifically targeting Gwadar port area. Incidentally, Gwadar is the most important asset being developed by China under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.
BLA’s Majeed Brigade, formed in 2011, is named after a guard of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto killed while attempting to assassinate the PPP founder. Its members mostly carry out suicide attacks, targeting security forces and Chinese interests in Pakistan. The Gwadar attack is a grim reminder to Pakistan and Chinese authorities of woman suicide bomber Sari Baloch. In April 2022, Sari’s suicide attack at Karachi on Chinese cultural centre killed three Chinese teachers. This was also claimed to have been carried out by the Majeed Brigade.
The attack signifies the hatred the Baloch rebels have, not only for Pakistani forces but also for the Chinese. It bears mention here that China is building a colony near Gwadar port to house 5,00,000 Chinese workers. This `Chinese only’ gated colony was announced in August 2018 and was expected to be completed four years later. Being secretive in most of their doings and dealings, there is not much about the present status of the colony.
It has now become a serious challenge for the Pakistan army to protect Chinese workers, ubiquitous in many parts of the country. In July 2021, at least nine Chinese workers and four Pakistanis had died in attack on a bus carrying them to site of Dasu hydroelectric project. At many sites across Pakistan, the Chinese workers are involved in many projects. This has caused anger among Pakistanis as the much vaunted over two million jobs for them in CPEC projects have not materialised in over a decade.
Gwadar is virtually the jewel in crown, as it were, among all the CPEC projects undertaken by China in Pakistan. Through a network of railway lines, roads etc, Gwadar is sought to be connected to Chinese mainland for oil transportation. Once this corridor is fully functional, China can reportedly save $2 billion per annum. In fact, at present oil transportation to China has to cover 12,000 km. The Gwadar port offers an alternate route where only 2,400 km will need to be traversed.
It was on May 16, 2013, that Singapore was given marching orders and Gwadar port came into the hands of China. All energies are focussed on fully developing this port for meeting Chinese energy needs. In 2015, it was said that 51 projects worth $46 billion were to be undertaken in Pakistan as part of CPEC. In 2020, the new figure quoted was $60 billion, and by 2022, this figure of Chinese investments in Pakistan was quoted at $65 billion.
The amount of Chinese money into various CPEC projects is not clear but most of them have been opaque trajectory and executed by Chinese firms with the help of Chinese labour. The participation of Pakistanis has remained confined to the bare minimum and the process of awarding contracts has remained absolutely opaque. After the initial euphoria, optimism about CPEC is not being witnessed in any part of the Pakistani society. Open hostility towards the Chinese and their strong arm tactics had led to simmering discontent, at times open hostility, in Pakistan.
The Pakistan government is grappling with precarious balance of payments (BoP) and current account deficit (CAD) issues. This has led to murmurs about staggering trade deficit Pakistan has with China, of about $20 billion. Economists are openly talking about the need to bridge this gap and fast. The government, however, has remained rather reticent about China as also any benefits that may have accrued because of CPEC.
Officially, the Pakistan government has maintained that all is hunky dory though there has been little progress on any CPEC projects since 2018. China often claims that it has invested $65 billion in Pakistan in CPEC. However, it is not clear how much of this amount is debts, equity or in kind. Thereby hangs a tale that needs unravelling, and sooner the better for Pakistan as it waits dolefully for a tranche of $1.1 billion from International Monetary Fund (IMF).
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