Ties & terrorism

 Ties & terrorism

Mubasher Mir

Since the beginning of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China decades ago, the series of cooperation started with the spirit of goodwill on the part of Pakistan to give a large area of ​​northern areas under the control of China and The two countries signed a border agreement. China also expressed goodwill and it was announced to build a Silk Road through the difficult mountain range of Karakoram. This highway, which is considered a great wonder of the world, is now named N35. Its total length is 1300 km, of which 887 km is in Pakistan and 413 km is in China. Construction began in 1966 and the highway was completed in 1979 and opened to the general public in 1986. More than 800 Pakistani and 200 Chinese workers lost their lives during the construction of this highway. It is as if sacrifices were made on both sides in building the relationship through this miracle Link.

When the two countries announced greater cooperation and the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects were announced, some hostile forces started a series of terrorism to damage the growing relations between the two countries. In the past in Sindh , The Chinese engineers were abducted by behind-the-scene miscreants, but Pakistan's security agencies recovered them. This incident was reported in 1991 when Jam Sadiq Ali was the Chief Minister of Sindh. In 2004 also, Chinese engineers working on Gomal Dam were kidnapped but security agencies rescued them. There were a few other similar incidents involving the Taliban and the IMU-Uzbekistan organization, but Pakistani security agencies tried their best to control them.

After the launch of the CPEC projects, conspiracies started again to harm both the countries with the wave of terrorism. The biggest project of CPEC includes connecting Gwadar with Kashgar and developing Gwadar city which includes seaport, international airport, export processing zone and education, health and clean water projects, in this regard a Balochistan based organization called BLA also became part of the terrorist activities, which claimed to have attempted to target the Chinese Consulate Office Karachi on 23 November 2018, the Chinese Ambassador, Excellency Nong Rong, which took place in Quetta on 21 April 2021, and the University of Karachi in 2022.They  also carried out a fatal attack on the teachers of the Confucius Center.

Recently, the security of Pakistani and Chinese working on dams in the northern areas of Pakistan is being done in a very professional manner, but miscreants attacked in Bisham area and the most competent Chinese engineers lost their lives. Attempts to weaken the spirit of love and sacrifice between the two countries will never succeed because the leadership of both the countries is fully aware that the economic development roadmap set by the two countries is a Game  Changer in the region.  They believe that if China completes the economic development projects in Pakistan, Pakistan will become a great economic power in the future. .

There are agreements between Pakistan and China for the protection of Chinese workers  and a separate force has been formed to ensure security while Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts have also been deployed for this purpose, but preliminary investigations into the recent attack revealed that There were irregularities in the security system. The attacks on Chinese engineers so far have also shown that terrorists usually attack on the roads while workplace security is better, but the intelligence service needs to be improved in this regard. A terrorist network can be close to people working on economic projects. This is the reason that they must have received information about the movement of Chinese workers, the security agencies must be working on these bases.

In order to maintain trust in both countries, the investigation of the terrorist incident should be completed as soon as possible and a high-level official delegation should visit China to inform the Chinese leadership of the efforts being made to prevent terrorism. 

The relationship between Pakistan and China is eternal, no circumstances can weaken this relationship, terrorists will never succeed in their plots and the CPEC projects will be completed within the stipulated period.

The two countries are bound in a bond of brotherhood that will never end, a bond stronger than steel and will remain forever.