With India mounting excessive pressure on China both economically, as well as across the Indo-Pacific, China has now deployed a senior Pakistani Army General in Balochistan in order to quell the freedom movement prevalent in the occupied region and its people for decades. For reasons best known to China, the Army General – Ayman Bilal chose to project himself as the crusher of the Baloch liberation movement and said that he had been deployed by China in the Pakistan-occupied region to rid it of all insurgents. Additionally, Ayman Bilal also stated that China had poured in large sums of money for the fight against Balochistan’s liberation movement.
“China has paid me a salary and a large sum of money and officially posted me here for their regional interests and to thwart Iran’s conspiracies against CPEC, as it is a kind of investment in regional interests,” the army general said. “We have a good amount of money for this task, so let us know how much you need because we can’t wait any longer for Iran to create unrest in Balochistan, conspire against CPEC and stab us in the stomach in the name of friendship,” Bilal told local agents of Pakistan’s Frontier Corps and Intelligence officials.
Interestingly, Pakistan has no less than officially called Iran its biggest enemy, with Ayman Bilal saying that the army can go into Iranian territory in order to teach Baloch fighters a lesson which their upcoming generations too will remember. He said, “Iran is the biggest enemy of Pakistan which has a direct hand in the instability of Balochistan.” This speaks volumes about Islamabad’s inherent fear of Iran replacing Pakistan as China’s vassal state.
Read more: ‘Stop the Baloch Army or pay the price,’ China’s message to Pakistan is clear as BLA hurts CPEC
Meanwhile, TFI has been consistent in reporting that Pakistan will be in the good books of China as long as it dedicates itself entirely to fixing the Baloch problem. Beijing has been trying to get Pakistan to work overtime to defeat the rightful motives of the Baloch fighters – which are to liberate Balochistan from the clutches of the Islamist state. However, Islamabad has failed to shore up results, which has now led to China taking matters into its own hands. By pumping large sums of money into the fight against Baloch liberation and by itself choosing the man to head the said mission, China has signalled that the future of CPEC and Sino-Pak relations are now hinged upon the abilities of one man to crush the Baloch problem.
The Balochi fighters have been causing tremendous damage to Chinese investments and projects in the region. Beijing, annoyed with the inefficiency of Pakistan to tackle the problem, had issued an ultimatum to Islamabad to move the UNSC 1267 Al Qaida, Taliban and affiliates committee for labelling the BLA as a terror organisation. It had even promised all diplomatic help required to get BLA labelled as a terror organisation, yet, Pakistan was too scared of internationalising the Balochistan issue itself.
Liberation groups in Balochistan have targeted Chinese nationals and China-funded projects over the past three years or so. In 2019, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for attacking Zaver Pearl-Continental Hotel, a five-star facility which overlooks the Gwadar port and remains popular with wealthy Chinese interests. The BLA also claimed responsibility for the attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi in 2018, apart from laying siege on the Karachi Stock Exchange in 2019.
As a consequence, China has begun cosying up to Iran, and even getting excessively involved in a strategic manner with the Shi’ite country, which it hopes will help it bypass the Gwadar Port problem being posed in Pakistan. China is in desperate need for gaining an alternative route for its oil and other export supplies. As of now, it is almost entirely dependent on the narrow Strait of Malacca, which India can block at will, sending the paper dragon into a tizzy. China has now given Pakistan the final ultimatum, failing which it will not hesitate to have Iran do Beijing’s bidding.
‘Stop the Baloch Army or pay the price,’ China’s message to Pakistan is clear as BLA hurts CPEC