A step which shows China’s desperation and helplessness in the region, Beijing has now urged Islamabad to tackle the threat of Balochs and Sindhis in Pakistan as the two ethnic groups have joined hands to push back Pakistan and China from their sovereign lands.
According to a report in WION, a consortium of four Baloch organizations announced that they are tying up with the Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army or the SRA. The new alliance called Baloch Raji Ajoi Sangar has issued a statement saying that China wants to subjugate Sindh and Balochistan through China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The new alliance has BLA or the Balochistan Liberation Army as a founding member. BLA was founded in 2000 and since then it has been engaged in a struggle to free Balochistan from Pakistani occupation.
Active in the Balochistan province, including the port city of Gwadar, BLA has not only been fighting Pakistani occupiers but also hurting Chinese investments in the region.
The Balochistan Liberation Army is hitting China where it hurts the most. China is irked with the BLA predominantly because Beijing has invested 62 billion dollars in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which continues China-occupied Xinjiang to the port city of Gwadar in Pakistan-occupied Balochistan.
This is a strategic investment as the CPEC allows Chinese vessels to bypass the Strait of Malacca where the Indian Navy has the option of blockading Beijing’s oil shipments and trade routes.
Now according to reports, Beijing wants Islamabad to move the UN Security Council. It wants the BLA to be listed as a global terrorist organization.
The Baloch freedom struggle has been going on for over 70 years now, and Balochs are unwilling to accept Pakistan’s illegal occupation over their land.
The Pakistan Army has been violating the human rights of the people of Balochistan day in and day out. Women are raped, villages are destroyed, and scores of people are thrown from helicopters down to the ground. Balochs are abducted by Pakistani forces and agencies and are never found again.
What’s worse, is that Pakistan has sold Balochistan to China, and the dragon has put in multi-billion-dollar investments in the region, especially in the Gwadar port.
For the same reason, China is the second most hated enemy of the people of Balochistan, and in recent years, attacks on Chinese nationals, including the Chinese consulate, have increased. On November 23, 2018, three heavily armed fighters from the Baloch Liberation Army targeted the Chinese consulate in Karachi.
More recently, the Karachi Stock Exchange was attacked by the BLA members. While no such incident is laudable where innocent human lives are lost but the unholy duo of China and Pakistan has rendered the Balochs and Sindhis unwarranted and homeless in their own land that they are pushed to take such untoward steps.
China has already shown that it can set up exclusive colonies in Balochistan to safeguard its interests. Now, with attempts to strong-arm Islamabad on the BLA issue, China is blatantly interfering in Pakistan’s internal policies.
Similarly, the Sindhis have constantly disassociated themselves from the rogue Pakistani elements. The Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army just like BLA has floated the idea of Sindhudesh—a separate Sindhi state, which would be independent from Pakistan. With BLA and SRA joining hands, Pakistan’s problems have suddenly been compounded.
The fact that China has intruded into Pakistan’s internal politics can be gauged from the fact that recently Beijing ordered Pakistan to manage the rising negative sentiments domestically against the atrocities it commits on the Uyghur Muslims.
Pakistan is ensnared in huge debts, courtesy China and it will be hyperbole to expect that it will go against China’s doctrine. If Islamabad and Beijing take this issue to the UN, the consortium will only be more motivated to take on their ideology ahead with much greater ferocity and Beijing cannot let that happen as its precious Yuan will go down the drain otherwise.