A Chinese-funded conflict is brewing in Pakistan’s Balochistan Province, where extremist separatists and Taliban terrorists aren’t likely to just sit and watch as China builds roads, railways, and oil pipelines through the region.
Pakistan may be preparing “for the initiation of a massive military operation in Balochistan,” says an analysis from intelligence company IHS Jane’s. It says that Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held an All Party’s Conference on June 1 in Quetta, Balochistan’s largest city, intended to build “a consensus across political lines.”
The pending conflict is laying the ground for the Chinese regime’s China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), also called the new Silk Road. The CPEC will run from Xinjiang Province in northwest China to the port of Gwadar in southwest Balochistan.
While the planned construction sounds good on paper, building it will be another story. In central and southern Balochistan are nationalist groups, including the Baloch Liberation Army, which according to Jane’s have previously kidnapped or killed foreigners, “especially Chinese,” to challenge Pakistan’s plans to develop the region.
Balochistan is also home to various Islamist groups, including splinter factions of the Pakistani Taliban, according to Jane’s. This is on top of the region’s organized crime networks that smuggle weapons, drugs, and diesel; as well as violent sectarian groups.
