CPEC: Baluch protesters warn Chinese to leave Gwadar port
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: While China is battling the Covid-19 tsunami at home, its dream project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is facing a fresh challenge from a local Pakistani outfit in Baluchistan which warned the Chinese workers to return to their country.
The Baluch people have for long been protesting against the Chinese presence on their soil, frequently attacked, and even killed some of them.
For the last 50-odd days, Gwadar-based Haq Do Tahreek (Rights Movement), led by Maulana Hidayat Ur-Rehman, has been staging a sit-in protest outside the main entrance to the Gwadar Port, demanding the exit of the Chinese. On Thursday, it renewed its ultimatum to the 500-odd Chinese nationals stationed inside the port compound to leave immediately.
According to media reports, the outfit had warned Chinese citizens in Balochistan’s Gwadar port, one of the most significant culmination points for China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), to leave by Thursday. The ultimatum turned up the pressure on Islamabad, which for long been facing Beijing’s ire for its failure to protect Chinese assets and workforce in both legally and illegally administered Pakistani territories.
Under the CPEC, an expressway, airport, and port in Pakistan-administered territories are part of the USD 62 billion Pakistan component of the BRI. They tout Gwadar as the ‘heart of CPEC’ in Pakistan.
The Baluch protesters have for long been demanding a scale-down in security checkpoints in the area, an end to deep-sea fish trawling citing the harms it brought to the local fisheries, and an easing of restrictions on informal border trading with Iran.
Some opposition parties in Pakistan have also been supporting the Baluch people’s protest against the Chinese presence in Gwadar and the consequent violation of local rights. The media reported Maulana capitalized on the popularity of that protest to win a decisive victory in the first round of local polls. He has emerged as a new regional leader.
On December 10, thousands of women rallied in Gwadar to show solidarity with Rehman. On December 16, Rehman and his supporters also flaunted weapons, showing they could use them against those whom they deem fit for the perceived violation of their movement rights.
