Cracks in ironclad friendship?

Both Pakistan and China have vehemently asserted that Friday’s attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi’s Clifton on November 23 by  the BLA, a Baloch separatist group, would not have any impact on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a large part of which travels through Balochistan. Bordering Afghanistan and Iran, the province is rich in mineral and natural gas reserves, but remains Pakistan’s poorest. 

In a statement after the consulate attack, the BLA referred to the Chinese as “an oppressor.” They point to the fact that despite the massive infrastructure development underway for CPEC, the jobs have gone to Chinese workers, not locals.

They also assert that in their zeal to “clean up” the province for the CPEC, thousands of young Balochis have been abducted and killed by the Pakistani army. Some extreme nationalists in the Sindh province share a similar anti-China agenda, though they enjoy limited support. 

Pakistan has for long accused India of fomenting and funding the unrest in the province. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assertion in his Independence day speech in January 2016 that many Balochis had ‘reached out to him’ is often referred to as a proof of India’s sinister motives in the region. They also point out that the Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, on death row in Pakistan for “spying”, had “confessed” that he was tasked by Indian intelligence to foment trouble in the province.

In fact, the FIR lodged in the Karachi consulate attack by the local anti-terror police says clearly that “The BLA is supported by Indian agency RAW.”  Despite assertions about the “ironclad” friendship that no third country could erode, China has reason to be concerned. The Belt and Road Initiative, of which the CPEC is a major part, is facing a backlash in several nations. And there are fears that US President Donald Trump could use the attack to score points against the project during summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Buenos Aires on December 1.