KARACHI, Pakistan, Nov 23, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – At least two policemen were
killed when unidentified gunmen stormed the Chinese consulate in the
Pakistani port city of Karachi on Friday, officials said.
Up to four gunmen tried to enter the consulate but were intercepted by
security guards at a checkpoint, senior local police official Javaid Alam
Odho told AFP.
An exchange of fire resulted “killing two of our constables and critically
wounding another”, he said.
He added that the group “ran away” but did not confirm if the attack was
over, saying the area had been cordoned off and security forces were
conducting a clearing operation.
Police and Rangers were on the scene, police said. Pictures posted to
social media purportedly of the attack showed smoke rising from the area.
The attack was claimed by a separatist militant group from Pakistan’s
southwestern province of Balochistan, which is at the centre of a major
Chinese investment project in the country.
“We have carried out this attack and our action is continuing,” the
spokesman for the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), Geand Baloch, told AFP
by telephone from an undisclosed location.
The BLA is just one of the militant groups operating in Balochistan,
Pakistan’s largest and poorest province, which is rife with ethnic, sectarian
and separatist insurgencies.
China, one of Pakistan’s closest allies, has poured billions into the
South Asian country in recent years as part of a massive infrastructure
project that seeks to connect its western province Xinjiang with the Arabian
Sea port of Gwadar.
The project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, is one of the largest
projects in Beijing’s “One Belt One Road” initiative, comprising a network of
roads and sea routes involving 65 countries.
But for Pakistan, participating in the project presents an enormous
challenge in a country plagued by weak institutions, endemic corruption and a
range of insurgencies in areas slated to host the corridor.
The subject of economic dividends from CPEC is extremely sensitive in some
of the areas the corridor will run through — particularly in resource-rich
Balochistan.
Since the beginning of the project militants have repeatedly attacked
construction sites and targeted Chinese workers.
Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and a financial hub, was for years rife
with political, sectarian and ethnic militancy.
A crackdown in the city by security forces in recent years has brought a
lull in violence, but scattered attacks still take place.