South Asia Terrorism Portal
Balochistan: CPEC's Achilles heel Tushar Ranjan Mohanty Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On April 26, 2022, at least five persons including three Chinese nationals, their Pakistani driver and a security guard, were killed when a women suicide bomber blew herself up near a van transporting Chinese nationals from Karachi University (KU) hostel to the Confucius Institute in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh. The three deceased Chinese nationals were identified as Confucius Institute Director Huang Guiping, and staffers Ding Mupeng and Chen Sa.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack on Twitter, releasing the image and name of the attacker, Fidayeen (suicide cadre) Shaari Baloch aka Bramsh, of the Majeed Brigade, the BLA’s ‘suicide bomber squad.’ Shaari Baloch (30), the first Baloch woman suicide bomber, was the mother of two children. She had done her M.Sc. in Zoology and had an M. Phil degree. Her husband is a doctor and she was a teacher by profession. She joined the Majeed Brigade two years earlier.
Jeeyand Baloch, the BLA 'spokesperson' issued the statement declaring:
Chinese engineers and nationals have been targeted in the past by Baloch insurgent groups in various parts of Balochistan, as well as in adjacent Karachi. Most of these attacks were carried out by BLA. The most recent previous incident against a Chinese target was on August 20, 2021, when a BLA suicide bomber attacked a convoy of Chinese engineers in the Nagori ward area of the Gwadar Expressway in Gwadar District, Balochistan, in which at least three persons, including two children, were killed and three persons, including a Chinese national, sustained injuries. BLA claimed responsibility for the attack. "BLA carried out a 'self-sacrificing' attack against a convoy of Chinese engineers," the group’s statement asserted.
According to partial data compiled by SATP, since July 19, 2007, at least 13 attacks directly targeting Chinese nationals have been recorded thus far, resulting in 77 deaths (data till May 1, 2022). The dead included 10 Chinese nationals, 13 Pakistani Security Force (SF) personnel, 41 Pakistani civilians and 10 attackers. Another, 53 persons, including six Chinese nationals, have been injured in these attacks.
Some of the other prominent incidents targeting Chinese nationals include:
April 21, 2021: At least five persons, including four Pakistani civilians and a police official, were killed and another 12 sustained injuries, when a bomb exploded in the parking lot of the Serena Hotel located on the Shahrah-e-Zarghun Road in Quetta, Balochistan. No Chinese national was injured. It was a suicide car bombing, but the terrorists could not enter the main hotel building where a Chinese delegation was staying. The explosion occurred before Chinese ambassador, Nong Rong, who was in Quetta on that day, was to arrive at the hotel. The apparent target of the attack was Nong Rong.
May 11, 2019: Four terrorists stormed the luxury Zaver Pearl-Continental Hotel, in Gwadar, Balochistan. The Hotel had around 70 guests at the time, including 40 Chinese nationals. Nine persons, including four hotel employees, one Pakistan Navy sailor and all four attackers, were killed during the eight-hour long siege. BLA’s ‘Majeed Brigade’ claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it was aimed at the Chinese and other foreign investors.
November 23, 2018: Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) Fidayeen (suicide squad) ‘Majeed Brigade’ militants attacked the Chinese Consulate in Block 4 of the Clifton area in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, leaving at least six people dead. However, no Chinese national was hurt in the attack. Three militants were killed in the operation by SFs. BLA claimed that the attackers had been assigned the task of targeting the Consulate.
February 5, 2018: A Chinese national, Chen Zhu (46), who was a top official at a shipping firm, was shot dead by unknown armed assailants in a targeted attack at Zamzama Park in Clifton, Karachi.
The worst attack targeting Chinese nationals was recorded on July 19, 2007, when a suicide bomber tried to ram his explosive laden vehicle into a van taking Chinese engineers to Karachi from Hub town, at the Gadani Bus Stop in the industrial town of Hub in Balochistan, but missed the target when a Police van blocked its way. At least 30 people, including seven Policemen, were killed and 28 were injured. All seven Chinese engineers, including a woman, remained unhurt. This was also the first attack directly targeting Chinese nationals.
In another attack intended to hurt Chinese economic interests in Pakistan, at least 11 persons were killed when four terrorists attacked the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Chundrigar Road, Karachi, on June 29, 2020. Those killed included four private security guards, one Policeman, two bystanders and all the four attackers. All the persons killed were Pakistani nationals. Significantly, after this attack BLA 'spokesperson' Jeeyand Baloch declared,
Baloch groups have carried out attacks directly targeting Chinese nationals engaged in economic activities, as they believe that China, in connivance with Islamabad, is exploiting the province. Their resentment towards the Chinese has grown stronger since the start of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project in 2013, as both the civilian population and insurgents believe that CPEC is part of a 'strategic design' by China to loot resources and eliminate Pakistani, particularly Baloch, culture and identity. The USD 62 billion CPEC is a massive series of projects that includes a network of highways, railways and energy infrastructure, spanning the entire country. CPEC is a flagship project in China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
China's increasing involvement in mining projects in the Province angers Baloch separatists. On July 1, 2020, Pakistan again extended the lease to the Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) Resources Development Company (MRDL) to explore and develop the eastern mines under the Saindak Copper-Gold Project for 15 years. MRDL has been operating in Balochistan’s remote Saindak town since 2002, extracting significant amounts of mineral resources from the region. The Saindak copper and gold project, which was launched in 2001, was handed over to China in 2002 for a ten-year lease. It was renewed again in 2012 and then in 2017.
Under the Gwadar Project, China is building a 'Chinese-only colony' in the Gwadar port city at a cost of USD 150 million, which is intended to house half-a-million Chinese nationals. According to an August 21, 2018, media report, only Chinese citizens will live in this gated zone, thereby paving way for a Chinese colony within Pakistan. The China-Pakistan Investment Corporation has reportedly bought 3.6 million square feet for the international port city, and is going to start building the gated zone for the anticipated 500,000 strong Chinese workforce, which was scheduled to be located there by 2022, though these targets have been slipping.
There is also great anxiety that CPEC will convert the Baloch people into minorities in their own homeland. Noordin Mengal, a human rights campaigner from the Province stated, on March 17, 2017, that, with an influx of outsiders as a result of the project, the identity of the Baloch was being threatened. Pakistan currently hosts a sizable Chinese population and the numbers are only slated to grow as the project progresses. Moreover, the resettlement of Pakistanis from other Provinces, to Gwadar and other project areas of Balochistan are raising acute concerns about the demographic transformation of the province. These were reiterated in a December 28, 2016, report by the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), which noted that, at the current and projected rate of influx of Chinese nationals alone into Balochistan, the native population of the area would be outnumbered by 2048.
The recent attack on Chinese nationals will increase the woes of the Pakistani establishment, as attacks on Chinese nationals and projects are not only limited to Balochistan. On July 14, 2021, a vehicle driven by a suicide attacker and laden with explosives rammed a convoy of Chinese workers headed to the Dasu Hydropower Plant project site at Dasu in the Upper Kohistan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), killing at least 13 persons, including nine Chinese. Two buses carrying workers from the China Gezhouba Group Co., a construction company based in Wuhan, China, were badly damaged in the explosion. The Dasu Hydropower Plant project is part of CPEC.
After this incident, China sent a strong message cancelling the 10th Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) meeting under CPEC for an indefinite period. The meeting was scheduled to take place on July 23. Reports indicate that CPEC projects have significantly slowed down since.
Moreover, on January 19, 2021, the Pakistan Government succumbed to Chinese pressure to provide a compensation of USD 38 million for the 36 Chinese nationals, killed and injured, at the Dasu Dam Project. The Government worked out four different compensation amounts, ranging from USD 4.6 million (PKR 810 million) to USD 20.3 million (PKR 3.6 billion). Pakistan has decided to make the payment despite the absence of a legal or contractual obligation on the Government. The Chinese contractor had also stopped work on the project and demanded a compensation of USD 37 million. The Chinese government had been pressurising the Pakistan Government for the compensation since the incident.
As with previous attacks, the Chinese Government asked Pakistan to take definitive measures to stop attacks on its projects and citizens. On April 27, 2022, the Chinese Foreign Ministry declared, “The blood of the Chinese people should not be shed in vain, and those behind this incident will surely pay the price.”
Pakistan has, in fact, long been under immense pressure to heed to Chinese demands for a direct military presence to safeguard its interest in the country and its surrounding areas. The Chinese have intensified pressure on the Pakistani SFs to neutralize the Baloch insurgents hindering their projects. Though there is no official presence of Chinese troops in Pakistan, reports have emerged from time to time about Chinese forces stationed inside Pakistan. Way back in August 2010, a New York Times report claimed that 7,000 Chinese troops were stationed in Gilgit (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir). Chinese authorities rejected these reports on September 1, 2010. On March 21, 2019, media reports quoting Indian intelligence agencies claimed that China had deployed People Liberation Army (PLA) troops for the security of coal mines in Thar area of the Tharparkar District in Sindh. Similarly, on July 1, 2020, there were reports regarding the use of the Skardu Airbase in Gilgit by China. On July 2, 2020, the Pakistan Army "vehemently" denied the presence of Chinese forces in the country after unsubstantiated reports circulated in Indian media claiming the presence of Beijing's combat aircraft at a forward Pakistani air base. Pakistan Army media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Major General Babar Iftikhar tweeted, “We vehemently deny presence of Chinese troops in Pakistan.”
On January 26, 2021, Sangar News, quoting Frontier Corps (FC) Inspector General (IG), South Balochistan, Major General Ayman Bilal, reported that China had deployed him to crush the Baloch movement and had given him six-months for the task. At a special Jirga (meeting) at FC headquarters in Turbat, Major General Ayman Bilal reportedly stated, “China has paid me a salary and a large sum of money and officially posted me here for their regional interests and to thwart Iran’s conspiracies against CPEC, as it is a kind of investment in regional interests.”
The Government of Pakistan had earlier deputed an estimated 37,000 security personnel to guard Chinese workers engaged in some 22 projects directly associated with CPEC and another 214 related small and mega projects in Pakistan. These include 15,780 military personnel trained under the Special Security Division (SSD) and the Maritime Security Force (MSF).
Despite these massive security arrangements for projects and persons associated with CPEC, the Baloch insurgents continues to succeed in their attacks. After the April 26 attack, all movements of foreign nationals in Balochistan have been restricted. Chinese nationals working on CPEC and various other projects have been barred from visiting public places until further notice. However, the deep-rooted Baloch anger against the Pakistani establishment as well as against the Chinese can only continue to provoke further attacks in the foreseeable future.
West Bengal: Brewing Menace Deepak Kumar Nayak Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On April 26, 2022, senior officials of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) have warned the Police about possible Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) activities in West Bengal, along with its neighbouring States of Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha. During a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eastern Zonal Council that took place at the West Bengal State secretariat of Nabanna under the Shibpur Police Station limits of Howrah District, West Bengal, on April 26, an alert was issued by senior officials of the UMHA that the following 15 days would be extremely crucial for these four States, as there were central intelligence inputs of resurgent Maoist activities in the region.
On April 23, 2022, CPI-Maoist posters resurfaced in Jhargram District, with a threat to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders of the district, declaring, “For a long time, Trinamool has been playing games with people, it is time for Maoists to play games with Trinamool Congress leaders." There have been reports of Maoists regrouping in the Junglemahal area of Jhargram and West Midnapore in West Bengal.
On April 20, 2022, following specific inputs by a central agency about a possible CPI-Maoist attack within 15 days, State Police were on high alert in the Jungle Mahal area which covers the Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram and West Midnapore Districts. Police stepped-up their vigil and naka (Police check post) checking around the Jungle Mahal area, especially at border points. According to sources, Maoist ‘commander’ Madan Mahato was leading the Maoists’ regrouping exercise in the area. Mahato is accompanied by his wife Java, who leads the women in the group. According to a central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officer, suspicious movement along the Bengal-Jharkhand border has increased significantly over the past few days.
On April 19, 2022, the West Bengal Government had also issued a red alert in the Junglemahal Districts, after intelligence inputs from the Centre pointed warned of the possibility of a Maoist attacks in this region.
On April 8, 2022, a bandh (general shutdown strike) was observed in large parts of the Junglemahal following a call by the CPI-Maoist, prompting the Bengal Government to reassess the situation in Jhargram, West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura. Reports from the Districts suggested that most pockets of Junglemahal wore a deserted look through April 8, indicating that people at large did not want to take chances and preferred staying indoors. The impact was highest in Jhargram, where three blocks, including Jhargram, witnessed a total bandh-like situation, according to a Police source. An unnamed senior officer stated,
The Maoists had called the strike in the Junglemahal on April 8,2022, to protest the State Government’s move to appoint former Maoists as junior constables or special home guards. The posters that were put up in different parts of the four Districts claimed that their former comrades were ‘criminals’ and also included threats that those not observing the strike would be killed.
However, following the body blow inflicted on the Maoists with the killing of CPI-Maoist ‘Politburo member’ Mallojula Koteswara Rao aka Kishanji in Burishole forest in the West Midnapore District of the Junglemahal area, during an operation on November 24, 2011, Maoist activities had almost come to complete halt in the State, except for the seven fatalities (six in 2012 and one in 2013) thereafter, according to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP). The Last fatality was recorded on August 17, 2013, when a Peoples Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) leader, Hemanta Mahato (20), was beaten to death by angry villagers under the Jhargram Police Station limits of West Medinipur District. PCPA is an erstwhile CPI-Maoist front organisation.
At peak, West Bengal recorded a total of 429 fatalities, including 326 civilians, 36 SF personnel and 61 Left Wing Extremists (LWEs), in 2010. These SF and LWE fatalities in 2010 were the highest in a year, since March 6, 2000. The 2010 peak in fatalities was substantially the result of the Gyaneshwari Express disaster, in which at least 148 persons were killed and more than 145 were injured, when Maoists sabotaged the Howrah-Kurla Gyaneshwari Express, a passenger train, which derailed and was subsequently rammed by a goods train coming from the opposite direction, in the Sardiya area of Jhargram on May 28, 2010. The State has recorded a total of 719 fatalities, including 528 civilians, 80 SF personnel, 98 LWEs and 13 in the ‘not specified’ category, since March 6, 2000.
Since the last killing of Hemanta Mahato, at least 38 Maoists have been arrested (data till May 1, 2022), and since March 6, 2000, 1,534 LWE elements have been arrested in the State. The most recent arrest was made on March 29, 2022, when a former Jadavpur University student, a suspected CPI-Maoist leader, identified as Joyeeta Das, was arrested from Jagulia village under Barasat I Block – 1 in the Barasat Sadar subdivision of North 24 Parganas District, by the Special Task Force (STF), on charges of waging war against the State. Das, who had been associated with the Nandigram movement as a member of the Matangini Mahila Samity (MMS), a non-profit organisation, was arrested from Jagulia in Barasat after her name allegedly cropped up during the interrogation of two persons suspected to be involved in Maoist activities in Nawada, Murshidabad District, who were arrested on March 24, 2022. An unnamed Police officer disclosed that the two persons, identified as Hasibur Sheikh of Nawada and Pratik Bhowmik of Dhantala in Nadia, both activists of Sangrami Krishak Samity – a pro-Naxalite organization – were arrested in connection with the case. Arms and ammunition were allegedly found on them.
No Maoist has surrendered in the current year, nor during 2021 or in 2020. However, 65 Maoists have surrendered in the State, since March 6, 2000 – 10 in 2003, four in 2009, four in 2010, 12 in 2011, 18 in 2012, two in 2014, one in 2016, and 14 in 2017.
Meanwhile, on March 17, 2022, a landmine placed by the CPI-Maoist was found under the culvert on Pichdhala road in Shalbani in West Midnapore District, which was later safely diffused by the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS). Though no incident of arms or explosives recovery was recorded in 2021, one such incident was recorded in 2020. Since March 6, 2000, at least 168 such incidents have been recorded.
The data suggests that, since the last killing on August 17, 2013, though there has been no Maoist-related fatality, occasional activities continue, indicating a residual Maoist threat.
According to an April 20, 2022, report, the State Government canceled the leave of all Policemen following the Centre’s intelligence. Search operations were carried out for 15 days in a row and strict surveillance maintained. State Director General of Police (DGP) Manoj Malaviya, after visiting the Jungle Mahal area, met officers in Jhargram, Bankura, Purulia and directed them to keep a close watch on outsiders.
On April 17, 2022, DGP Malaviya had met senior Police officers and instructed them to be extremely vigilant, as posters allegedly put up by the Maoists had cropped up in Junglemahal. He directed the officers to find out who was behind these.
An April 17, 2022, report, revealed that two senior leaders of CPI-Maoist had taken shelter in Jungle Mahal and were trying to launch a sudden attack in a bid to demonstrate their presence. As a result, surveillance in specific pockets of the four districts under Jungle Mahal was increased. Anti-mine vehicles were also deployed in various pockets to check roads and paths in and out of different forests.
Interestingly, on June 19, 2021, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) had included Jhargram under the Centre’s ‘Security Related Expenditure (SRE)’ scheme, which funds focused operations against the ultras. The scheme covers 70 LWE-affected Districts in 10 States across the country.
Jhargram, along with Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore Districts of the Jungle Mahal region, share borders with Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, which are among the LWE-affected States in India.
Presently, 24 companies of CRPF are deployed in the Jungle Mahal region for anti-Naxalite operations.
The Maoist influence and impact across the country is, without doubt, diminishing. However, their efforts to stage a comeback are visible in the brewing tensions in areas of their past dominance, including pockets of the Junglemahal region of West Bengal. The near-complete shutdown in the Junglemahal region on April 8, 2022, following the strike-call by the Maoists, led the State Government to revisit the official status of the Maoist organisation in the region. Peace has demonstrably been established in the Junglemahal region, in particular, and in the wider West Bengal State. Its preservation, however, demands continuous and intense vigilance, as the Maoists wait in the wings for any opportunity to stage a revival.
Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia April 25 - May 1, 2022
Civilians
Security Force Personnel
NS
Total
AFGHANISTAN
INDIA
Jammu and Kashmir
INDIA (Left-Wing Extremism)
Chhattisgarh
India (Total)
PAKISTAN
Balochistan
KP
Sindh
PAKISTAN (Total)
Total (South Asia)
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The South Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR) is a weekly service that brings you regular data, assessments and news briefs on terrorism, insurgencies and sub-conventional warfare, on counter-terrorism responses and policies, as well as on related economic, political, and social issues, in the South Asian region.
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