Representational image only. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

“Dozens of armed Baloch separatists seized a government office, robbed a bank and partially burnt a police station in a remote district in southwestern Pakistan before fleeing when security forces arrived,” police said on Thursday (January 9, 2025.)

The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack on Wednesday (January 8, 2025) in Khuzdar in Balochistan, where analysts say separatists are becoming as large a threat to national security as the Pakistani Taliban. “There were no casualties in the attack,” authorities said.

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Suhail Khalid, a local police officer, said the insurgents fled when security forces arrived and the situation was under control.

In recent months, Balochistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have experienced a surge in militant violence, most blamed on the Baloch army and the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

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The Pakistani Taliban is an ally of the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021. The Afghan Taliban’s takeover has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban, whose leaders and fighters are hiding in Afghanistan.

Oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest but also least populated province. It is the home of the country’s ethnic Baloch minority, who say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

“Chinese premier Li Qiang could inaugurate operations at a Chinese-funded airport in Pakistan’s Balochistan province during his visit to the country in the coming week,” Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told reporters on Sunday (October 13, 2024).

“The start of operations at the $200 million Gwadar International Airport has been pushed back for a security review after deadly attacks by separatist militants in August in the area,” Government and Aviation sources said.

“Li, along with Ministers and Government officials, will visit Pakistan from October 14 to October 17,” Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Sunday (October 13, 2024).

Pakistan is hosting the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which comprises nine full members, including China, India, Iran and Russia, and is scheduled for October 15 and October 16 in Islamabad.

“The new airport will handle domestic and international flights,” according to Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority, and will be one of the country’s biggest airports.

“The initial plan was for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to inaugurate the airport on August 14 alongside Chinese officials, but that was called off after an ethnic Baloch rights group started a sit-in protest,” the officials said.

A decades-long insurgency in Balochistan by separatist militant groups has led to frequent attacks against the Government, army and Chinese interests in the region to press demands for a share in mineral-rich regional resources.

Two Chinese nationals were killed in an explosion near the international airport of the southern Pakistani city of Karachi last week, the Chinese embassy in Pakistan said.

Separatist militant group the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said had targeted Chinese nationals, including engineers.

China said on Thursday (October 10, 2024) it would work with Pakistan to protect the safety and security of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in Pakistan. Besides the separatists, the region is also home to Islamist militants, who have been active again since 2022 after revoking a ceasefire with the Government.