Following suicide attack in Pakistan’s Karachi University by a female member of a terrorist group named Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) targeting Chinese nationals and subsequent demand by BLA to halt all Chinese projects in Pakistan, key policymakers of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) are actively considering of using members of Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) towards similar attacks targeting Chinese nationals in Bangladesh, with the nefarious agenda of sabotaging ongoing development projects in the country. According to a credible source, BNP’s convicted and fugitive “mini-boss” Tarique Rahman called Mahmudur Rahman, a so-called journalist and owner of JeI funded vernacular and asked him to “contact ARSA leadership” with suggestions of staging suicide attack in Bangladesh targeting Chinese nationals.
Tarique Rahman has asked Mahmudur Rahman to “convince” ARSA leaders stating, main source of strength of Myanmar is China and Beijing is not going to take any initiatives in favor of Rohingyas. Instead China always would support Myanmar. Unless Chinese nationals come under attack from ARSA, Rohingyas cannot return to their homeland.
It may be mentioned here that after claiming responsibility for the terror attack that struck the Confucius Institute within the University of Karachi on April 26 and killed three Chinese teachers and a Pakistani driver, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a militant separatist group, warned China of more deadly attacks, and Chinese experts urged the Pakistani government to take immediate and firm actions on protecting Chinese nationals and projects and to strengthen counter-terrorism efforts.
The spokesperson of the BLA 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.
On April 26, 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 reporters.
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 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 reporters.
There is much speculation on who is behind the BLA. Indian newspaper The Hindu reported that BLA commanders in the past had sought medical treatment in India’s hospitals, often under disguise.
