Gwadar Protests Against China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Culminate in Bomb Killing Two Children

Pakistan has long accused India and Afghanistan of supporting separatist groups in the country, including in Balochistan, a province that forms 40% of Pakistan. One separatist leader, Jumma Marri Baloch, told Sputnik that India had hijacked their struggle to undermine Pakistan’s ability to hold onto its part of Kashmir.

Protests in Pakistan’s western province of Balochistan have culminated in a terrorist attack on a Chinese convoy on Friday that killed two people. Baloch separatists have long objected to Islamabad’s joint project with Beijing to develop infrastructure through the region, including the deep-water port at Gwadar.

The Friday blast by a suicide bomber occurred on the Eastbay Expressway to the Gwadar port and struck the rearmost vehicle in the convoy.

According to Pakistani daily Dawn, the explosion killed at least two children and injured three others who were playing nearby, and three people in the targeted vehicle, one of whom is a Chinese national, were also injured.

"Strongly condemn suicide attack on Chinese nationals' vehicle in Gwadar," Balochistan government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani said in a statement on Twitter.

#Pakistan : Chinese engineers has been attacked near construction site in port city of #Gwadar. At least 9 Chinese engineers Dead & many injured in this incident. pic.twitter.com/uD4nhBB7nJ

— Nikhil (@NikhilCh_) August 20, 2021

​A journalist for Balochistan Voices later reported that the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group regarded as terrorist by the Pakistani, US and British governments, claimed responsibility for the attack. He noted the group had also claimed it killed nine Chinese personnel in the attack.

The attack has followed weeks of protests in Balochistan over the increasing Chinese involvement in the region’s economy, including the development of Gwadar and construction of highways in the area.

The demonstrators have blocked roads and shut down parts of the coastal city to draw attention to their demands, which include an end to shortages of water and electricity and to Chinese trawlers fishing in nearby waters.

“It has been more than a month, we have been protesting and rallying against the Chinese trawlers, shortage of water and electricity. The government never paid heed to our demands, and we had to observe a complete shutdown strike and we were attacked by the district administration,” Faiz Nigori, a local political worker, told the UK daily The Guardian.

#Balochistan suffering frm atrocities of Pak frm decades
Protests in #Gwadar Balochistan against Water Shortage & Power Outage
Occupying #Pakistan authorities never listens to Baloch, ignoring & depriving them of even the basic living facilities@Nadirbalochs @SherM_BRP @SheetPak pic.twitter.com/wwg7kUbB4G

— Anupama Manhas (@AnupamaManhas) August 20, 2021

​In 2015, Beijing and Islamabad signed a deal for a massive $60 billion infrastructure investment, part of the Eurasia-spanning Belt and Road Initiative to make the continent increasingly connected by sea, air, road and rail. That has included the development of a special economic zone at Gwadar, a port that was long known for its artisanal fishing industry, and the displacement of thousands of Baloch fishermen for the new port.

However, some of the problems driving the protests have nothing to do with the Chinese presence there. 

By blocking the roads of #Balochistan without any reason, ordinary Punjabis want to show their power and dominance over the people of Balochistan. This is the darkest chapter of colonialism. #Gwadar pic.twitter.com/5RbZ09lBSX

— Jamal Baloch (@Jam__Baloch) August 19, 2021

​For example, being so far from the rest of Pakistan, Gwadar gets its electricity from Iran, which is just 32 miles away. Last month, Mostafa Rajabi-Mashhadi, the deputy managing director of Iran’s national power grid, said domestic demands for air conditioning in the hot summer months had impacted its ability to export power, but that Iran would soon boost its exports to Pakistan, including to Gwadar.

The city has long struggled to get adequate amounts of drinking water, with the clumsy system of water tanks filled at nearby dams being slowly replaced by new water pipelines, like the one completed last month from the Swad Dam. Another from Akra Kaur Dam is under construction. However, a large desalination plant built in China’s special economic zone has become a point of tension amid the continued shortages in the city.

Friday’s attack against Chinese nationals in Balochistan is just the latest in a string of deadly incidents. Last month, a bus carrying Chinese miners in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province crashed into a ravine after being hit by an explosion, killing nine Chinese nationals and four other people. 

While the Pakistani government initially said the bus had suffered a mechanical failure, Chinese officials said the bus was hit by an explosion. Islamabad soon changed its tune and accused the intelligence agencies of India and Afghanistan of supporting the Baloch nationalists blamed for the attack. India has denied the accusation, although numerous instances of Baloch insurgents seeking medical help in Indian hospitals are known.

Police in the coastal city of Karachi also blamed Indian foreign intelligence for helping the BLA to plan a 2019 attack on the Chinese consulate that killed two police and two civilians outside the diplomatic compound.

Last week, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle exploded in heavy traffic in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, killing two police officers and injuring 10 other people.

India has its own port complex under construction along the northern coast of the Arabian Sea not far from Gwadar, just across the border in the Iranian city of Chabahar. The project is intended to play much the same role as China’s Gwadar port, including giving India access to the interior of the region, such as Afghanistan, in a way that circumvents its regional rival Pakistan.