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 in Hunza.
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 Pakistan.
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 activities in
Pakistan.
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 regional plans.
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 bus
attack.
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
No comments:
Post a Comment