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Pakistani separatist groups unite to target China's Belt and Road

Experts say Islamabad and Beijing will be forced to increase project security

ADNAN AAMIR, Contributing writer
August 1, 2020 17:19 JST

KARACHI -- Baloch and Sindhi separatist groups in Pakistan have announced they are forming an alliance aimed ostensibly at attacking Chinese interests in a development likely increase security costs for Belt and Road Initiative projects in Pakistan.

On July 25, Baloch Raji Ajoi Sangar, or BRAS, a consortium of four Baloch separatist organizations, announced in a media release an alliance with the Sindudesh Revolutionary Army, or SRA, a little known separatist group operating in southeastern Sindh province. Balochistan is another province in the southwest.

"Sindh and Balochistan are equally affected by the 'expansionist' and 'oppressive' resolves of China," the statement said. "Through the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), China aims to subjugate Sindh and Balochistan and occupy the coasts and resources from Badin to Gwadar," the statement added, referring to a pair of coastal cities.

The CPEC consists of a variety of infrastructure projects under China's Belt and Road Initiative with financial help from Beijing. Pakistan and China, which both have tense relations with India, have been allies for decades.

Baloch insurgents claimed that an attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange in June was carried out with support from Sindhi separatists. Security officials told local media that with the alliance Sindhi insurgents can now launch deadlier attacks with the help of Baloch militants.


Members of the Crime Scene Unit of the Karachi Police prepare to survey the site of the attack at the Pakistan Stock Exchange. © Reuters
Experts believe that while the alliance can create problems for the CPEC, it cannot halt the flagship project of President Xi Jinping's trademark program. "An alliance between the Baloch and Sindhi armed groups cannot be so effective that it will compel China and Pakistan to completely withdraw from [CPEC] plans," said Malik Siraj Akbar, a South Asian analyst based in Washington D.C.

However, analysts also think that the grouping will significantly increase security costs for CPEC activities.

"As China doubles down on the CPEC infrastructure projects from Kashmir to Karachi and Gwadar, the insurgent forces will seek to raise the costs by launching attacks and raids," Mohan Malik, a professor of strategic studies at the National Defense College of the United Arab Emirates, told the Nikkei Asian Review.

In May 2019, the Baloch Liberation Army, a BRAS constituent, attacked the Pearl Continental Hotel in Gwadar, the port city's only five star hotel, and killed five people including four hotel employees. Though no Chinese were killed, the BLA said in a statement that the attack was planned with the intent of targeting Chinese, who often stayed in the hotel.

Akbar, meanwhile, sees the government's expected moves to beef up security in response to more attacks as playing into the hands of the new alliance.

"An increase in violent attacks will require reevaluating the security plans and timelines for the completion of certain parts of CPEC," he told Nikkei. "The more the government increases security [for CPEC projects], the more it gives the nationalists a reason to tell the local population that these are exploitative projects aimed to take their resources away."


A ship carrying containers is seen during the opening of a trade project in Pakistan's Gwadar port, west of Karachi, in November 2016. © Getty Images
Pakistan has blamed India for supporting Baloch and Sindhi insurgents to target Chinese interests in the country. Prime Minister Imran Khan last month blamed India for the attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange, which has a major Chinese stake. New Delhi denied Khan's claim.

Experts also link the new alliance to the recent India-China military standoff in the Himalayas. Malik believes that an escalation in separatist violence and proxy wars on the subcontinent will be an inevitable consequence of New Delhi-Beijing security tensions. "[India and China] will engage in an intense geopolitical competition to win over the allegiance of countries and [separatist movements] hostile to the other."

Other experts see a relationship between the forming of the new alliance and phenomenon of resistance by local communities to China's growing role.

"As China's global footprint extends and Chinese economic activities directly impact, sometimes adversely, local communities, the pushback is inevitable," said Dibyesh Anand, head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster, London


Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shakes hands with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan before a meeting at the Great Hall of the People on April 28, 2019 in Beijing. © Getty Images
Anand cautioned, however, that the threat posed by the Baloch-Sindhi separatist alliance to Chinese interests should not be blown out of proportion. "The claims of Baloch and Sindhi nationalists [to attack the CPEC] should be taken with a pinch of salt because the economic might of China is closely tied in with [the] security-military might of the Pakistani state and separatists cannot match that," he told Nikkei.

Experts also see the formation of the new alliance as a factor that can push Pakistan and China to make CPEC more inclusive. Akbar believes that the two countries might also start considering employing more locals in CPEC projects in an effort to gain support from communities by giving them an economic stake in the projects.

Anand said that Pakistan must for now wait and watch. "Whether CPEC can be turned into an engine for inclusive development rather than a highly visible security-economic prestige project perceived by many Baloch or Sindhi separatists as neocolonial, is an open question," he said.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/B...-groups-unite-to-target-China-s-Belt-and-Road
watch this space
China will be holding a meeting with these groups soon. convincing them to leave India just like Iran and Bangladesh did
and see the world like China does
 
Indian seprate groups sud come up now.. india wants to fight with china in our borders we sud now let it happen instead china and Pak sud come up with plan to make india pay for what they have been doing in region... enough with indian terrorism.
 
dont worry, all of them would be stopped before they even move to the site
 
Didn't know it was a challenge lol. I suggest you read again, it's in simple English.

Since we know what end you're talking out of, what I implied was clear to those who want to understand.
 
Why coming separately with different names - TTP, BLA, Last Afgan, Dawn etc.????

Come in unison, so that the heads of these bastards can be chopped off together....
 
Pakistani separatist groups unite to target China's Belt and Road

Experts say Islamabad and Beijing will be forced to increase project security

ADNAN AAMIR, Contributing writer
August 1, 2020 17:19 JST

KARACHI -- Baloch and Sindhi separatist groups in Pakistan have announced they are forming an alliance aimed ostensibly at attacking Chinese interests in a development likely increase security costs for Belt and Road Initiative projects in Pakistan.

On July 25, Baloch Raji Ajoi Sangar, or BRAS, a consortium of four Baloch separatist organizations, announced in a media release an alliance with the Sindudesh Revolutionary Army, or SRA, a little known separatist group operating in southeastern Sindh province. Balochistan is another province in the southwest.

"Sindh and Balochistan are equally affected by the 'expansionist' and 'oppressive' resolves of China," the statement said. "Through the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), China aims to subjugate Sindh and Balochistan and occupy the coasts and resources from Badin to Gwadar," the statement added, referring to a pair of coastal cities.

The CPEC consists of a variety of infrastructure projects under China's Belt and Road Initiative with financial help from Beijing. Pakistan and China, which both have tense relations with India, have been allies for decades.

Baloch insurgents claimed that an attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange in June was carried out with support from Sindhi separatists. Security officials told local media that with the alliance Sindhi insurgents can now launch deadlier attacks with the help of Baloch militants.


Members of the Crime Scene Unit of the Karachi Police prepare to survey the site of the attack at the Pakistan Stock Exchange. © Reuters
Experts believe that while the alliance can create problems for the CPEC, it cannot halt the flagship project of President Xi Jinping's trademark program. "An alliance between the Baloch and Sindhi armed groups cannot be so effective that it will compel China and Pakistan to completely withdraw from [CPEC] plans," said Malik Siraj Akbar, a South Asian analyst based in Washington D.C.

However, analysts also think that the grouping will significantly increase security costs for CPEC activities.

"As China doubles down on the CPEC infrastructure projects from Kashmir to Karachi and Gwadar, the insurgent forces will seek to raise the costs by launching attacks and raids," Mohan Malik, a professor of strategic studies at the National Defense College of the United Arab Emirates, told the Nikkei Asian Review.

In May 2019, the Baloch Liberation Army, a BRAS constituent, attacked the Pearl Continental Hotel in Gwadar, the port city's only five star hotel, and killed five people including four hotel employees. Though no Chinese were killed, the BLA said in a statement that the attack was planned with the intent of targeting Chinese, who often stayed in the hotel.

Akbar, meanwhile, sees the government's expected moves to beef up security in response to more attacks as playing into the hands of the new alliance.

"An increase in violent attacks will require reevaluating the security plans and timelines for the completion of certain parts of CPEC," he told Nikkei. "The more the government increases security [for CPEC projects], the more it gives the nationalists a reason to tell the local population that these are exploitative projects aimed to take their resources away."


A ship carrying containers is seen during the opening of a trade project in Pakistan's Gwadar port, west of Karachi, in November 2016. © Getty Images
Pakistan has blamed India for supporting Baloch and Sindhi insurgents to target Chinese interests in the country. Prime Minister Imran Khan last month blamed India for the attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange, which has a major Chinese stake. New Delhi denied Khan's claim.

Experts also link the new alliance to the recent India-China military standoff in the Himalayas. Malik believes that an escalation in separatist violence and proxy wars on the subcontinent will be an inevitable consequence of New Delhi-Beijing security tensions. "[India and China] will engage in an intense geopolitical competition to win over the allegiance of countries and [separatist movements] hostile to the other."

Other experts see a relationship between the forming of the new alliance and phenomenon of resistance by local communities to China's growing role.

"As China's global footprint extends and Chinese economic activities directly impact, sometimes adversely, local communities, the pushback is inevitable," said Dibyesh Anand, head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster, London


Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shakes hands with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan before a meeting at the Great Hall of the People on April 28, 2019 in Beijing. © Getty Images
Anand cautioned, however, that the threat posed by the Baloch-Sindhi separatist alliance to Chinese interests should not be blown out of proportion. "The claims of Baloch and Sindhi nationalists [to attack the CPEC] should be taken with a pinch of salt because the economic might of China is closely tied in with [the] security-military might of the Pakistani state and separatists cannot match that," he told Nikkei.

Experts also see the formation of the new alliance as a factor that can push Pakistan and China to make CPEC more inclusive. Akbar believes that the two countries might also start considering employing more locals in CPEC projects in an effort to gain support from communities by giving them an economic stake in the projects.

Anand said that Pakistan must for now wait and watch. "Whether CPEC can be turned into an engine for inclusive development rather than a highly visible security-economic prestige project perceived by many Baloch or Sindhi separatists as neocolonial, is an open question," he said.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/B...-groups-unite-to-target-China-s-Belt-and-Road


Indian terrorism in full swing
 
There is not an iota of doubt that both China and Pakistan are in this together. These ragtag bandits cannot challange the state. They will be smoked out of their holes. The best they can do is seek refuge in European capitals and hide behind Afghanistan and India for their limited support.

My advice to the state and the armed forces is to unite unequivocally to defeat this menace from its root. Terminate them. Make them disappear. Do whatever necessary to rid this evil quickly and effectively. If they cry and shout forced disappearances do it again and again until every last of them has disappeared.
You echo the same sentiments that zia expressed before events which lead to the birth of mukti bahini.
 
Pakistani separatist groups unite to target China's Belt and Road

Experts say Islamabad and Beijing will be forced to increase project security

ADNAN AAMIR, Contributing writer
August 1, 2020 17:19 JST

KARACHI -- Baloch and Sindhi separatist groups in Pakistan have announced they are forming an alliance aimed ostensibly at attacking Chinese interests in a development likely increase security costs for Belt and Road Initiative projects in Pakistan.

On July 25, Baloch Raji Ajoi Sangar, or BRAS, a consortium of four Baloch separatist organizations, announced in a media release an alliance with the Sindudesh Revolutionary Army, or SRA, a little known separatist group operating in southeastern Sindh province. Balochistan is another province in the southwest.

"Sindh and Balochistan are equally affected by the 'expansionist' and 'oppressive' resolves of China," the statement said. "Through the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), China aims to subjugate Sindh and Balochistan and occupy the coasts and resources from Badin to Gwadar," the statement added, referring to a pair of coastal cities.

The CPEC consists of a variety of infrastructure projects under China's Belt and Road Initiative with financial help from Beijing. Pakistan and China, which both have tense relations with India, have been allies for decades.

Baloch insurgents claimed that an attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange in June was carried out with support from Sindhi separatists. Security officials told local media that with the alliance Sindhi insurgents can now launch deadlier attacks with the help of Baloch militants.


Members of the Crime Scene Unit of the Karachi Police prepare to survey the site of the attack at the Pakistan Stock Exchange. © Reuters
Experts believe that while the alliance can create problems for the CPEC, it cannot halt the flagship project of President Xi Jinping's trademark program. "An alliance between the Baloch and Sindhi armed groups cannot be so effective that it will compel China and Pakistan to completely withdraw from [CPEC] plans," said Malik Siraj Akbar, a South Asian analyst based in Washington D.C.

However, analysts also think that the grouping will significantly increase security costs for CPEC activities.

"As China doubles down on the CPEC infrastructure projects from Kashmir to Karachi and Gwadar, the insurgent forces will seek to raise the costs by launching attacks and raids," Mohan Malik, a professor of strategic studies at the National Defense College of the United Arab Emirates, told the Nikkei Asian Review.

In May 2019, the Baloch Liberation Army, a BRAS constituent, attacked the Pearl Continental Hotel in Gwadar, the port city's only five star hotel, and killed five people including four hotel employees. Though no Chinese were killed, the BLA said in a statement that the attack was planned with the intent of targeting Chinese, who often stayed in the hotel.

Akbar, meanwhile, sees the government's expected moves to beef up security in response to more attacks as playing into the hands of the new alliance.

"An increase in violent attacks will require reevaluating the security plans and timelines for the completion of certain parts of CPEC," he told Nikkei. "The more the government increases security [for CPEC projects], the more it gives the nationalists a reason to tell the local population that these are exploitative projects aimed to take their resources away."


A ship carrying containers is seen during the opening of a trade project in Pakistan's Gwadar port, west of Karachi, in November 2016. © Getty Images
Pakistan has blamed India for supporting Baloch and Sindhi insurgents to target Chinese interests in the country. Prime Minister Imran Khan last month blamed India for the attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange, which has a major Chinese stake. New Delhi denied Khan's claim.

Experts also link the new alliance to the recent India-China military standoff in the Himalayas. Malik believes that an escalation in separatist violence and proxy wars on the subcontinent will be an inevitable consequence of New Delhi-Beijing security tensions. "[India and China] will engage in an intense geopolitical competition to win over the allegiance of countries and [separatist movements] hostile to the other."

Other experts see a relationship between the forming of the new alliance and phenomenon of resistance by local communities to China's growing role.

"As China's global footprint extends and Chinese economic activities directly impact, sometimes adversely, local communities, the pushback is inevitable," said Dibyesh Anand, head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster, London


Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shakes hands with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan before a meeting at the Great Hall of the People on April 28, 2019 in Beijing. © Getty Images
Anand cautioned, however, that the threat posed by the Baloch-Sindhi separatist alliance to Chinese interests should not be blown out of proportion. "The claims of Baloch and Sindhi nationalists [to attack the CPEC] should be taken with a pinch of salt because the economic might of China is closely tied in with [the] security-military might of the Pakistani state and separatists cannot match that," he told Nikkei.

Experts also see the formation of the new alliance as a factor that can push Pakistan and China to make CPEC more inclusive. Akbar believes that the two countries might also start considering employing more locals in CPEC projects in an effort to gain support from communities by giving them an economic stake in the projects.

Anand said that Pakistan must for now wait and watch. "Whether CPEC can be turned into an engine for inclusive development rather than a highly visible security-economic prestige project perceived by many Baloch or Sindhi separatists as neocolonial, is an open question," he said.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/B...-groups-unite-to-target-China-s-Belt-and-Road

OK, so these are "separatist groups."

Others are "insurgents" or "rebels." Some may even be "resistance movements."

But others are, despite the legitimacy of their struggles, always labeled "terrorists."

The West-worshipping bias of this publication simply because these TERRORISTS happen to be against China is pathetic.
 
How big are these separatist group in terms of personnel?
Hundreds ? Thousands?
I dunno, but we we and China(apparently) knew was that groups like this could pop up to disrupt CPEC and BRI. Thats why CPEC plans call for a CHinese OR/and Pakistani force of approx 15K "security force" to secure the CPEC project...so China already knew some groups(maybe proxies of other countries too) would try and disrupt these projects...
 
What you refer to as "irrelevant", some would refer to as "problematic" at the very least. From The Hindu:

"Aslam Baloch, a key military commander of the organisation, had travelled to India in 2018 and underwent treatment for kidney ailments. He spoke to the media during his stay at Delhi's Lajpat Nagar with an assumed identity of ‘Qazi’.

What made his presence in India problematic was that the BLA is considered a terror outfit in Pakistan" .

If it's problematic to harbour a Pakistan-declared terrorist, logically, it is also problematic to harbour or support or facilitate a USA/UK declared terrorist. I'm surprised that you think it's irrelevant.

The below statement from the BLA is 4 years old but relevant to a discussion wherein Indian citizens feel it not necessary to declare this individual a terrorist, even though proper mature and functional secular democracies like UK and USA have done so.







Pakistan: BLF chief Baloch says Indian help 'welcome'
Allah Nazar Baloch warns of more attacks on Chinese economic project in Pakistan in first video interview in five years.

by Asad Hashim
30 Sept 2016

Baloch is the only leader of a large group waging a war from inside Balochistan [Reuters]
Islamabad, Pakistan - The elusive leader of a major armed group fighting for independence in Pakistan's Balochistan has said he would welcome cash and other help from India.

In his first video interview in five years, Allah Nazar Baloch, head of the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), also pledged further attacks on a Chinese economic corridor, parts of which run through the resource-rich province.

The planned $46bn trade route is expected to link western China with Pakistan's Arabian Sea via a network of roads, railways and energy pipelines.

"We not only wish India should support the Baloch national struggle diplomatically and financially, but the whole world," said Baloch, a doctor turned rebel fighter believed to be about 50, in filmed responses to questions sent by Reuters news agency."

i don't know the reality ,
but some people believe osama bin laden was living in abottabad , mulla umar also lived in karachi .unless we have proof you should not blame a peaceful country of harbouring terrorists .
 
As I said, there are no BLA members or Balochis in India simply because they will have extra scrutiny since they are Pakistanis. It's like saying why Canada didn't declare BLA as terrorists, or China for that matter. We declaring them terrorists is inconsequential.
Besides, why haven't you declared ULFA or Maoists as terrorists in Pakistan? They are much older than TTP. Simply because it's irrelevant.


But US declared BLA a terrorist outfit .. so why are you not following your US masters? after you do arm and train them via Afganistan
 

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