Members of Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) a notorious terrorist group in Pakistan is plotting series of suicide attacks targeting Chinese nationals in Pakistan as well as in China. According to media reports, after claiming responsibility for the terror attack that struck the Confucius Institute within the University of Karachi on April 26, 2022, BLA warned of more deadly attacks targeting Chinese nationals.
Meanwhile, Chinese experts have urged the Pakistani government to take immediate and firm actions on protecting Chinese nationals and projects and to strengthen counter-terrorism efforts.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin reporters, Pakistan is working hard investigating the case to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“The Pakistani government has promised to strengthen safety for Chinese nationals, projects and organizations. We will not allow any force to sabotage the great China-Pakistan friendship and cooperation. We believe Pakistan will take stronger measures to ensure smooth China-Pakistan cooperation. Any attempts to destroy this cooperation will be smashed by the two peoples”, said Wang.
The violent attack targeting Chinese teachers has shocked people throughout the international community. Before any investigation results on the terror attack were released, the spokesperson of the Baloch Liberation Army said in a statement in English that “Hundreds of highly trained male and female members of the Baloch Liberation Army’s Majeed Brigade are ready to carry out deadly attacks in any part of Balochistan and Pakistan”.
He continued to threaten China that “even harsher” attacks will be made if it does not halt projects in Pakistan.
There used to be threats from terror groups toward Chinese nationals in Pakistan. But it is rare to see such barefaced threats soon after such a violent and heinous terror attack, Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times.
Qian noted that by taking pictures of the attacker, quickly announcing responsibility, making further threats and hyping related topics, the BLA is promoting terrorist propaganda to maximize the influence of the terror attack.
On Tuesday, soon after the blast, the BLA announced responsibility, posted the picture of the woman who committed the suicide attack, and boasted it was the first time a woman had “self sacrificed” for the group.
According to Afghan journalist Bashir Ahmad Gwakh, the female bomber was a 30-year-old woman who had a Master’s degree in Zoology and MPhil in education while teaching at a school.
The information of the bomber, if confirmed, and the terror attack in the University of Karachi showed the BLA’s targets are wider and there have been changes in the structure of their leading group, Zhou Rong, a senior researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times.
The total number of the BLA may not exceed 6,000 and its Majeed Brigade has less than 500 people.
Young people with higher education and humble origins may have taken the place of the older leaders. Compared with senior members, who are tribal leaders and may yield to the Pakistani government and military, these young people are more stubborn and make more varied attacks that are hard to prevent, Zhou said.
In the Karachi terror attack, both terrorist and victims were teachers. The joining of women with higher education to the BLA shows how bewildering the extremist group can be. More similar attacks may be incited given the BLA’s hyping of the attacker in Karachi, Zhu Yongbiao, director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies in Lanzhou University, told the Global Times on Thursday.
In the threat, the BLA depicts China as a looter – a similar narrative used by the US, which shows it is highly possible that the terrorist group has supporters behind it, analysts said.
The BLA is being funded by the enemies of Pakistan. There is no secret that India and the US are behind the BLA and some leaders of the BLA have taken refuge in the West. They are against the development of Pakistan, and CPEC is a prime target, Shakeel Ahmad Ramay, chief executive officer at Asian Institute of Eco-civilization Research and Development, told the Global Times.
