EDITORIAL: On Wednesday evening, at least four people were killed, two of them private security guards, and 12 others injured when a vehicle in the parking lot of Quetta’s Serena Hotel exploded and the fire spread to several other cars. Hotel management is reported to have said that all guests staying at the hotel were safe, adding however, that some employees were missing – they may have perished in the explosion. The banned terrorist outfit, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed credit for the mayhem, saying: “our suicide bomber used his explosives-laden car for the blast”. It is not unusual for the TTP to take responsibility for atrocities committed by other groups. In the present instance, contrary to its assertion that the evil deed was done by its suicide bomber, police investigations reveal that it was caused by detonation of an explosive device planted in a car. TTP did not name the target, either.
The target seems to have been the Chinese Ambassador Nog Rong, who was in Quetta but not in the hotel at the time. Balochistan home minister Ziaullah Lango told reporters he had met the ambassador and found him “in high spirits”, adding that investigations would ascertain the target. There is enough evidence, nonetheless, to suggest who the target may have been. For a while the Chinese have been in the crosshairs of Baloch insurgents backed by certain outside powers. It may be recalled that in 2018, the so-called Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) took responsibility for bombing a bus carrying Chinese engineers in Dalbandin, Chaghai district of Balochistan. Later that year, they attacked Chinese Consulate in Karachi. And two years ago, they launched a strike on a hotel at the Gwadar Port - the centerpiece of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and maritime Silk Road projects. Notably, after an assault last July on Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi that culminated in the killing of four attackers and a police officer and three guards embracing martyrdom, a Baloch militant group had issued a statement saying the attack was aimed at hurting Pakistan’s economy and also China – having major investments in the PSX — for its involvement in Balochistan.
It is an open secret that India has been using disgruntled Baloch to destabilise this country and undermine the CPEC. For the achievement of that objective, its consulates in Afghanistan, in collusion with some sections of the Afghan intelligence agency, NDS, have been providing sustenance and shelter as well as arms and financial help to the insurgents. It is also known to have played a pivotal role a while ago in uniting the three Baloch militant groups – BLA, BLF and BRG — under the umbrella of a new outfit calling itself “Baloch Raji Ajoi Sangar” which has been involved in various acts of terrorism, subversion and sabotage in this restive province. These people may well be responsible for the latest attack in Quetta. Such acts of terrorism, of course, are not going to affect China-Pakistan relations or their mutually beneficial CPEC project. But Islamabad and Rawalpindi need to rethink policy towards angry Baloch youth and counter their narrative through power of persuasion rather than use of force.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
Comments
Comments are closed.