Pakistan seeks peace with Balochistan rebels, with China and Afghanistan on its mind

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has taken tentative steps to initiate peace talks with separatist rebels in its southwestern Balochistan province, home to the Chinese-run deepwater port of Gwadar, amid the threat of insurgencies fuelled by civil war in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Ethnic Baloch nationalist politicians and exiled rebel leaders have viewed the move with scepticism because they are unconvinced Pakistan’s powerful military will endorse any meaningful concessions offered by Khan’s government.

However, they have stopped short of rejecting Islamabad’s move to end the conflict, which has raged in many areas of sparsely-populated Balochistan, a key area for China’s US$60 billion Belt and Road Initiative to boost global connectivity. Instead, they are awaiting clarity from the government on the terms of and participants involved in the prospective dialogue.

While Khan’s bid to negotiate with the insurgents is also aimed at improving security for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects, latest developments have underscored the challenges Islamabad faces to ensure the security of large numbers of Chinese workers based at infrastructure projects across Pakistan.

On Wednesday, nine Chinese workers were among 13 people who died, when a blast on a bus they were travelling on sparked a fire, sending the vehicle plunging into a ravine. A local government official told AFP that a further 28 Chinese nationals were injured. No group has taken responsibility for the attack.