R Krishna Das
China is confused, whether to term it an accident or attack that killed nine of its nationals in the Upper Kohistan area of Pakistan after an explosion on Wednesday morning.
The bus carrying the 30 Chinese engaged in an under-construction tunnel site of the 4,300-megawatt Dasu hydropower project was badly mangled and shredded as it tossed up before falling into a ravine. And the devastation of such impact could happen only when the improvised explosive device (IED) detonated, security experts believed.
Despite getting preliminary inputs, Chinese authorities are still in a confused state. Thirteen people, including nine Chinese nationals, two personnel of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) and two locals, were killed and 28 others sustained injuries in the incident.
The state-run newspaper in China quoted an expert saying that the incident could be a result of mechanical failure. If it was a roadside bomb, Pakistani guard vehicles would have been the first target, the Chinese expert came out with a puerile logic. “The reason mentioned is meaningless; if the Chinese were the target, there was no sense to detonate and blow up the Pakistani guard vehicles,” said a senior anti-counter insurgency expert in India.
While one expert admitted that it was a terror attack but was not aimed to Chinese nationals. The explanation also did not go well with the strategic experts as they suggested that a meticulously planned operation would never miss the target.
Instead of covering up the event, China must expect in the larger interest of its nationals that it was a terror attack and was overtly aimed at it. In fact, China had been under the scanner of terror organisations for its stand on Uyghur Muslims’ plight. It had intensified in the last two years and likely to deepen with US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has been waging an insurgency against Pakistan for several years, has become active in Pakistan’s tribal areas as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province with efforts to take control of several areas. Recent attacks on Chinese citizens in Karachi show that Pakistani militant groups opposing China’s Belt and Road Initiative have changed their strategy — focusing on the country’s urban centers and targeting Chinese nationals and investments.
The Chinese authorities are probably cognisant of it but playing it down only to signal the World that it has been safe from the fundamental terror outfits as it will severely impact it global investment plan. This is the reason it has put its denizen in Pakistan on high alert.
The sooner China realizes this, the better!
