Web | May 08, 2004
The Chinese In Baluchistan
B. Raman
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Ever since the construction started, there has been strong opposition to it from large sections of the Baluchis as well as the political parties of Baluchistan due to the following reasons:
The exclusion of the Baluchistan Government from all decisions relating to the project. The entire project is controlled by the Federal Government in Islamabad, with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) playing an important role in the selection of contractors and companies for participating in the project.
Fearing possible Indian attempts to sabotage the early construction of the project, a large number of Baluchis living in the area, who are viewed by the ISI as sympathetic to India, have been removed from there and replaced with Punjabis and other non-Baluchis enjoying the confidence of the ISI.
All civil engineering contracts relating to the project have been given to companies based in Lahore and Karachi and they have been encouraged to import non-Baluchi labour from outside to work there, thereby belying the expectations of the Baluchis that the project would provide them with jobs.
The few Baluchis, who have been recruited by the Chinese company, have been accusing it of following exploitative policies by paying them arbitrarily low wages and denying them basic amenities in respect of housing, medical relief etc as compared to the salaries and amenities enjoyed by the Chinese. There have also been complaints of non-payment of wages in time.
Consequently, for over a year now, the Baluchi nationalist parties have mounted a strong opposition to the project, which they view as anti-Baluchi and meant to serve the interests of the Pakistan military and add to the prosperity of Punjab without any benefits for the Baluchis. However, their opposition till now has been in the form of protest meetings, demonstrations and random explosions not causing human lives. The explosion of May 3, which was specifically directed against the Chinese, has, therefore, caused alarm in Islamabad and Beijing. About 16 residents of Gwadar have so far been rounded up in connection with the investigation and a team of Chinese intelligence and police officials has flown into Pakistan to join the investigation.
While the Pakistani authorities themselves have been pointing the needle of suspicion at Baluchi tribes for the explosion, the Chinese officials do not seem to share their suspicion. It is reported by reliable sources that the Chinese officials believe that whatever be the grievances of the Baluchis over the project, they would not target the Chinese engineers. Instead, they would target Pakistani civilian and military officers associated with the project.
The Chinese suspicion seems to be directed at anti-Beijing Uighur extremist elements who have taken shelter in the tribal areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. In view of the Chinese interest in the Gwadar port as a gateway for the external trade of the Xinjiang province and as a regional base for the Chinese Navy, the Uighur extremists, in Beijing's perception, would have a strong motive to disrupt its construction.
On the basis of the evidence available so far, it is difficult to say anything definitively as to who could have been responsible for the explosion.
B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director, Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai, and Distinguished Fellow and Convenor, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Chennai chapter.
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