Shahbaz Sharif's acid test: Chinese projects in Pakistan face series of attacks

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Pakistan's newly-elected government has one more pressing challenge—reassuring its close ally Beijing that it is serious about protecting Chinese nationals working on China-funded projects in the country.

Over the last two weeks, Chinese nationals working at some China-funded projects in Pakistan, including the Gwadar Port, have come under attack, drawing sharp reaction from Beijing, which is preparing for Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif's official visit next month.

In the latest strike on Tuesday, five Chinese nationals and one Pakistani were killed when the convoy they were moving in came under attack in Bisham tehsil of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region.

On Monday night, at least one paramilitary soldier was killed when a naval air base in Turbat area in the southwestern province of Balochistan was targeted. Officials said all five of the assailants were also killed in retaliatory fire.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which is said to be behind several attacks on Pakistani and Chinese interests in the region, claimed responsibility for the Turbat attack. The BLA is said to have targeted Chinese projects over the last few years as a protest against the exploitation of land and resources.

China has demanded a "thorough investigation" into Tuesday's attack. "The Chinese embassy and consulates in Pakistan have immediately launched emergency work, demanding that the Pakistani side conduct a thorough investigation into the attack, severely punish the perpetrators and take practical and effective measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens," the Chinese embassy said in a statement.

Sharif visited the embassy later in the day to offer condolences, a move considered unusual for any PM.

The attacked convoy was moving from Islamabad to the site of a Chinese hydroelectric project in Dasu, about 270 km away.

Dasu is about 80 km northwest of Besham where the attack happened, marking the third such incident in a week. The growing attacks could test the newly-elected Sharif government's stand on curbing the radical elements in the country.

China is a close ally of Pakistan and has invested heavily in various projects in the South Asian country. In 2021, the bombing of a bus in Dasu had killed 13 people, nine of them Chinese.

Last week, another BLA attack at Gwadar had left two soldiers and eight of the group's fighters dead. Gwadar is the centrepiece of the $62billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

Earlier in the year, at least ten people were killed when security forces were attacked in Balochistan's Mach town, but attempts to breach the Mach jail were thwarted.