China-Pakistan Economic Corridor sparks Pakistan protests

A brand new China-backed international airport is getting ready to be inaugurated in Gwadar, a port city in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province.

Chinese media reported in June that the airport will be completed and handed over to the local authorities this year.

The airport is part of the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), part of China's global collection of infrastructure projects and trade networks known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Even though the airport would enhance connectivity and support economic growth, many in the region oppose it.

The ethnic Baloch, who constitute a majority in the province, have staged massive protests in recent days against the Pakistani government for what they view as unfair exploitation of their natural resources.

Large protests in Balochistan

The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), a rights group campaigning  for the civil, political and socioeconomic rights of the Baloch, has mobilized people and organized huge rallies across Balochistan.

Mahrang Baloch, the BYC leader, told DW that they were organizing "a movement against Baloch genocide," accusing Pakistani authorities of carrying out thousands of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.

"China or any other country investing in Balochistan is directly involved in the Baloch genocide. The enforced disappearances and forced displacements in the Makran coastal belt are huge. They are looting our resources with no gain to local Baloch," she said.

But the Pakistani military labeled the BYC as "proxies" for what it called terrorists and criminal mafias.

"Their strategy is gathering crowds with foreign funding, inciting unrest among the people, challenging government authority through stone pelting, vandalism, and making unreasonable demands," Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the head of the military's media wing, told reporters last week.

"But when the state takes action, they portray themselves as innocent victims," he added.

Gwadar's key role in CPEC

China announced the CPEC project in 2015 with an aim to expand its trade links and influence in Pakistan and across Central and South Asia.

The idea behind the project was to connect China's western Xinjiang province with the sea via Pakistan.

This would shorten trade routes for China and help avoid the contentious Malacca Strait choke point, a narrow waterway between Malaysia and Sumatra that links the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Pakistan, meanwhile, would benefit from increases in trade, infrastructure and industry along the 2,000-kilometer corridor (1,240 miles), all financed by China.

Gwadar, a small fishing city in Balochistan, plays a key role in the project. It was chosen to connect the corridor to the global shipping network. The city lies close to the Strait of Hormuz and the Iranian border.

Gwadar's deep-sea port, completed in 2007 and handed over to a Chinese operating company in 2013, was to become the heart of the CPEC. 

It would be integrated into a new special economic zone that would transform Gwadar into a bustling port city.

'Volatile' security situation

Nevertheless, Balochistan is Pakistan's poorest and least populous province.

Rebel groups have waged a separatist insurgency there for decades, complaining that Islamabad and the richer Punjab province unfairly exploit their resources.

Islamabad has tried to put an end to the insurgency militarily.

Rights groups have sharply criticized Pakistani authorities' actions in the province. There have been many reports of grave human rights abuses committed by the military and its intelligence agencies.

Some Baloch fear that the Chinese are investing in Gwadar to exploit the province's natural resources. Baloch separatists have also targeted Chinese interests in Pakistan.

The security situation in Balochistan remains alarming, with 248 terrorism-related incidents reported in the first seven months of this year, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal.

Qamar Cheema, a defense analyst, described the province's security situation as "volatile," citing rampant militant attacks on military installations.

"To counter the situation, where Beijing has invested enormously, there needs to be peace and stability, and the state must act to bring the situation under control," he told DW.

Growing discontent among Baloch

Analysts say the recent mass protests in Balochistan highlight the growing discontent among the local population.

"The Chinese involvement did not adequately consider the pre-existing tensions in Gwadar between the Baloch and the Pakistani government. As a result, China has become entangled in the conflict between the Baloch and Islamabad," Malik Siraj Akbar, a political analyst, told DW.

Kiyya Baloch, a journalist and commentator who has extensively covered Balochistan, told DW that the latest BYC-led Baloch movement opposes the policies of Beijing and Islamabad toward Gwadar.  

"A decade after the launch of CPEC, the promises of transforming Gwadar into a city akin to Shenzhen, Hong Kong, or Dubai have not been fulfilled," he said.

Baloch added that the protests are "unique," pointing to the unprecedented number of women taking part in them.

"Never before have so many women taken to the streets to demand their rights, not only in Balochistan but across this region."

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru