Balochistan’s Anger on China - Who are the BLA and why did they attack a Chinese consulate in Pakistan?

 'All oppression creates a state of war. And this is no exception.'

News - Three armed gunmen, including suicide bombers, stormed the Chinese consulate building in Karachi on Friday, 23^rd November, but the security forces foiled the attack before they could enter the compound. At least seven people, including the attackers, two police officials, and two civilians were killed in the assault.

A Baloch separatists group, the BLA claimed responsibility.

Who are the BLA?

The attack on a Chinese consulate in Karachi on November 23rd highlights the resistance to China's economic projects in Balochistan province.
Three separatists belonging to the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) - one of a number of groups formed in the mid-1970s advocating separatism among the Baloch people, attacked the Chinese Consulate in Karachi.

Pakistan alleges that the BLA led by exiled Baloch leader Hyrbyair Marri, son of the late Khair Bakhsh Marri mastermind of the Karachi Attack on the Chinese Consulate.

The BLA comprises several hundred members who operate in the province of Balochistan as well as neighbouring Afghanistan and Iran. There are other Baloch separatist groups too. Until now, the group’s ire had been against the Pakistani military and workers hailing from other provinces. They are accused of exploiting the province’s natural resources against the will of local Balochi population.

Why Pakistan's Baloch separatists are against Beijing?

Experts say the assault on the Chinese consulate was meant to warn Beijing to roll back its economic investments in the resource-rich province of Balochistan and highlights the opposition to the US$62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), China’s economic projects in Balochistan.

The China – Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the crown jewel of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative in Pakistan is supposed to run through Balochistan to end in the deep seaport of Gwadar, providing the shortest land and sea route between China and the Persian Gulf.

The already existing human rights abuses in Balochistan have increased ever since Islamabad and Beijing signed this deal. Baloch separatists view China as an ‘oppressor’ and allege that it is taking control of Balochistan’s rich natural resources and geostrategic location to exploit these for its own benefit. Separatists are aware that the Chinese projects are aimed at colonising Balochistan, and they must be resisted.

So far this year, Chinese nationals and projects have been attacked in Pakistan by the BLA several times. On August 11th; the BLA attacked a bus carrying Chinese engineers in Dalbadin district, wounding five people – including three Chinese engineers working on the Saindak project, a Pakistan-China joint project to mine gold, copper and silver.

“The BLA says that China is taking over Balochistan's natural resources. It says that China should leave Balochistan and go back to China. They should not be [working] in Balochistan,” said Asif Farooqi, a Pakistani journalist with BBC Urdu.

The source of the problem is Islamabad’s decades of repression and marginalisation of the Baloch. Political analysts say that Islamabad needs to end the military operation in Balochistan and find a political situation to deal with the separatism issue in the province.

"We should be the masters of our resources, but we are being treated like slaves. This will have catastrophic consequences,"
Dr. Abdul Aziz, a Gwadar resident, told a reporter.

The people in Balochistan, who are championing the cause of the Free Balochistan Movement, are sending a clear message that they will not tolerate any measures that will lead to theft of their resources.

A reminder of the Baloch trauma

Baloch anger has a 70 year old history of a systematic denial of opportunities by the Pakistani establishment. They have even accused China of helping Pakistan perpetrate genocide in Balochistan since the 1950s.

Along with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, the world has condemned the attack. Violent attacks cannot be justified in the name of resisting China and the attack will harm the peaceful right’s movement of the Baloch people.

While mindless violence is not the path to aspirational goals, it must also be remembered that high handedness and autocracy often tend to beget violent reprisals.