“The terrorists want to stop CPEC and development projects,” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a televised address to his cabinet, referring to the attacks carried out Aug. 25 by militants of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which killed 39 people in “coordinated” attacks in the province of Balochistan. Sharif stated that they also wanted to drive a wedge between Islamabad and Beijing, Reuters reported, noting that China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) “is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative.”
The CPEC infrastructure belt extends from Kashgar in western Xinjiang, south through Pakistan to the port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea.
The Italian business daily Il Sole 24 Ore is more explicit: “Pakistani PM Sharif and Chinese Government: Attacks in Balochistan Aim To Block the New Silk Road” was the headline of an article by Delhi correspondent Marco Masciaga Aug. 27.
