By
Sajjad Shaukat
On
May 13, this year, at least 45 people were killed and several injured after
gunmen brutally opened fire on a bus of the Ismaili community near Safoora
Chowrangi area of Karachi. The deadly terror-attack resulted into countrywide
day of mourning, closure of shops and institutes in Karachi and other areas of
Sindh including a complete shutter-down strike by Ismaili community Without any
doubt, Karachi bus incident is a handy work of Indian secret agency RAW to sabotage
the China-Pakistan economic Corridor (CPEC) by showing that if Pakistan
government is not able to provide security to its citizens, how can it protect
CPEC. Ismailis belong to Hunza (Gilgit/Baltistan) or have a spiritual linkage
with this area, are Pakistanis. The CPEC would also originate from the same
region.
It
is notable that during the recent visit of the Chinese President Xi Jinping to
Pakistan, on April 20, 2015, he and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
signed 51 agreements for cooperation in various fields, related to
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The establishment of CPEC between deep Gwadar
seaport of Balochistan and the historic Silk Road city in western regions-Xinjiang
of China will connect Gilgit-Baltistan through Khunjerab Pass. Beijing would
also build an international airport at Gwadar, while the roads infrastructure
in Gwadar would link the communication network of rest of the country to
facilitate transportation of goods. When Gwadar seaport becomes fully
operational, it would connect the landlocked Central Asian states with rest of
the world. Being the commercial hub, the port is likely to increase volume of trade,
bringing multiple economic and financial benefits to Pakistan like the Suez
Canal which changed the destiny of Egypt when Israel returned it to the former.
It will enable high-volume cargo vessels to move in the major oceans. Gwadar
project will not only uplift the impoverished people of Balochistan by
providing thousands of employment opportunities and is likely to develop whole
the province by redressing their grievances. The resulting prosperity in the province
would trickle down to the Baloch people and damp the separatist sentiments,
which the hostile elements, supported by anti-Pakistan powers do not want.
The
ink on China-Pakistan agreements—CPEC was barely dry when western media,
especially RAW started playing up the Baloch insurgency. In this regard, the
director of The Second Floor (T2F), a social activist Sabeen Mahmud was shot
dead by unidentified gunmen in Karachi on April 24—followed by a bomb blast in
Sibi, which killed several persons on April 26. However, she had left T2F after
attending the session on Balochistan, when she was targeted. She was likely to
conduct a seminar at LUMS in Lahore about Balochistan. No doubt, RAW is behind
the assassination of Sabeen Mahmud-a well thought-out plan not only to try to
sabotage Pak-China alliance, but also to accuse Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI). Another aim was also to drive a wedge between Balochistan and rest of
Pakistan. However, Pakistan’s civil and military leadership, leaders of various
political parities and religious parties including members of civil societies
have strongly condemned the Karachi massacre in the bus and have shown
solidarity with Ismaili community. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held a
high-level meeting in Karachi, in which Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif and other political
leaders also participated. Prime Minister Sharif said about the bus attack that
Karachi is Pakistan’s economic and trading hub and “the enemies of Pakistan do
not like the economic progress of the country. To put a stop to Pakistan’s
economic progress is their agenda.” Next day, he remarked that some local
elements and foreign forces are creating hurdles in China-Pakistan Economic
Corridor programme which is vital for progress and development of Taking
serious note of the Safoora Chowrangi bus assault, on May 14, while showing his
determination to eliminate all terrorists in the city, Gen. Raheel Sharif held
a high-level meeting of military officials and security agencies at the Corp
Headquarters in Karachi. He vowed to bring terrorists behind the Karachi attack
to justice including their facilitators and sympathizers.
Besides,
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who also condemned the bus massacre, urged Pakistan
to move quickly to protect religious minorities. It was another aim of India to
distort Pakistan’s image abroad. It is mentionable that Ahmed Marwat, a
spokesman for Jundullah which is the affiliated group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the bus attack. The group which
started off from South Waziristan has targetted Shia minorities and foreign
tourists in the past as well. In November, last year, it had pledged support to
the ISIS or Daesh. In fact, RAW wanted to divert attention from its sinister
designs by targeting the innocent persons in the bus. In this respect, on May
14, Pakistan’s Foreign Office denied existence of global terror outfit Daesh,
also known as Islamic State, in Pakistan. The FO Spokesperson Qazi Khalil
Ullah said security forces of Pakistan were ready to meet any threat regarding
the terror outfit. Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry pointed out that Indian RAW
was behind terrorist.
Nevertheless,
the probe team, comprising of security agencies has found clear evidence of
Indian RAW involvement in Safora Chorangi incident in Karachi. They arrested
the suspected terrorists, after their phone calls were traced—showed that RAW
was involved in the incident, while some leaders and media analysts also stated
that the RAW is behind the bus carnage. Recall, when during the Musharraf
regime, Islamabad initiated the construction of Gwadar deep-seaport in
Balochistan in March 2002 with Chinese assistance, sirens went off in the
capitals of foreign countries, especially the US, India and Israel which took
it as a threat to their global and Notably, besides Balochistan’s ideal
strategic location, its abundant mineral resources like gas, coal and gold,
entailing Pakistan’s close ties with China also pinches the eyes of the US,
India, Israel and some western countries which intend to destabilize Pakistan
for their collective aims.
Therefore,
major challenge to Pak-China strategic alliance is that RAW has well-established
its network in Afghanistan, and with the tactical assistance of anti-Pakistan
secret agencies, it is fully backing cross-border incursions including
terror-activities in Balochistan province and other regions of Pakistan, and is
also destabilizing China and Iran. It has continuously been assisting the
Baloch anti-Pakistan groups like BLA, Jundullah and TTP including their
affiliated outfits with logistic support—the militants kidnapped and killed
many innocent people and the security personnel in the province and other areas
of Pakistan through suicide attacks, bomb blasts, targeted killings and
sectarian violence to create lawlessness in the country. In the past few years,
they abducted and killed many Chinese and Iranian nationals in Pakistan. On a number
of occasions, these insurgent groups claimed responsibility for their
subversive acts. The major purpose behind is to create unrest in Pakistan,
especially Balochistan and to discourage Beijing for the development of Gwadar
port. In this context, in May, 2013, a day before Chinese Premier Li Keqiang
arrived in Islamabad; Chinese engineers being driven through Clifton Block-1 in
Karachi escaped a major bomb attack. Taking note of the foreign powers’
anti-Pakistan designs, during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping,
Islamabad made extraordinary security arrangements.
It
is worth-mentioning that unlike the Indian-backed Afghan President Hamid Karzai,
President Ashraf Ghani realized that Afghanistan and Pakistan are facing
similar challenges of terrorism and will combat this threat collectively.
Besides, Islamabad’s proposal to offer security and defence cooperation to
Afghanistan was received positively. Both the countries desire to further strengthen
bilateral relations in all areas of mutual interest. Now, frequent visits of
Pak-Afghan civil and military leaders to each other’s country also irritate New
Delhi. It is noteworthy that that Gen. Raheel accompanied by the DG of
ISI, went to Kabul on December 17, 2014. During his meeting with his
Afghan counterpart, President Ashraf Ghani and the ISAF commander, he presented
the evidence of linkage between the massacre of children at Peshawar school and
TTP sanctuaries in Afghanistan. He also asked about action against the TTP
chief Mullah Fazlullah and his network which is being assisted by India.
Taking
cognizance of Indian secret function, now, Afghan government and US which now
want stability in Afghanistan have started taking action against the TTP. A
number of TTP militants have been captured in Afghanistan, while Fazlullah
survived in a drone attack. Nonetheless, besides other external secret agencies,
particularly RAW which has accelerated terrorism activities in Pakistan to
target China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, is behind Karachi.
Sajjad
Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs
Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International
Relations
Email:
sajjad_logic@yahoo.com
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