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00:03 So what is happening in Pakistan after that much-doubted,
00:13 much-maligned, poll-rigging speculations
00:18 and counterclaims elections that happened in Pakistan,
00:21 bringing Shahbaz Sharif back at the helm of the affairs?
00:24 Now the Chinese interests are suddenly under attack.
00:28 Unidentified attackers opened fire
00:30 at Pakistan's Gwadar Port Authority complex
00:33 in its restive Balochistan province,
00:35 after which retaliatory firing ensued.
00:38 And security personnel at the Gwadar Port
00:40 have killed eight attackers.
00:42 Not one, two, or three, but eight attackers
00:44 have been killed.
00:45 Almost a planned attack there.
00:47 Gwadar is situated close to the Strait of Hormuz,
00:51 and it plays a pivotal role in the Arabian Sea's oil shipping
00:54 route.
00:55 Mainly, many would call it the supply chain, the money minting
00:59 machine for the cash-trapped Pakistan.
01:02 This deep water port ends central
01:05 to the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan economic
01:08 corridor, also known as CPEC, which
01:11 includes infrastructure projects such as roads and energy
01:14 initiatives.
01:15 It forms an integral part of the Chinese president Xi Jinping's
01:19 ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, also known as BRI.
01:23 Despite facing a longstanding separatist insurgency
01:26 in the region, China has made significant investments
01:29 in mineral-rich Balochistan as part of its Belt and Road
01:32 Initiative, particularly in the development of Gwadar.
01:35 So the news coming from Pakistan, once again,
01:38 various terrorist groups in Pakistan
01:40 have previously targeted Chinese interests.
01:44 For instance, in August, gunmen attacked a convoy
01:47 of Chinese workers in Gwadar, which the Balochistan Liberation
01:52 Army claimed the responsibility for.
01:55 Baloch separatists armed with guns and bombs
01:57 attacked Pakistan's strategic Gwadar port,
02:00 key to the multi-billion dollar Chinese-Pakistan,
02:04 China-Pakistan economic corridor, on Wednesday.
02:08 Seven to eight terrorists have been shot and killed
02:11 by the security officials in Pakistan.
02:13 One would wonder that why Chinese interests suddenly
02:15 have come under attack in Pakistan.
02:18 See, there is a faction which is unhappy with this,
02:22 I would say, the takeover of China
02:25 of these strategic locations in Pakistan.
02:28 Remember Hambantota?
02:29 It's a port, once again, but not in Pakistan,
02:32 but down south in Sri Lanka.
02:34 Now, this Gwadar port in Pakistan
02:37 is also, once again, the same, the replica of Hambantota.
02:41 What Hambantota is to Sri Lanka, Gwadar is to Pakistan,
02:44 as far as China is concerned.
02:46 And this particular investment, this checkbook diplomacy
02:50 which China uses, they will invest a lot in you,
02:53 they will give you loans on lower interest,
02:57 and then, at the end of the day,
02:59 when you are not able to pay them back,
03:01 or you become habituated of taking money from China,
03:05 back comes the condition that,
03:07 why don't you give us this part of the land?
03:09 Why don't you give us this part of the sea?
03:11 And we will invest and make a deep sea port here,
03:15 which, in turn, could help China to place their submarines.
03:19 The strategic locations that China tries,
03:22 at times it has been seen that how it tries
03:24 to circle India also,
03:26 and circumvent India's efforts to fight back
03:30 in case of any emergency,
03:34 or any sort of conflict with China, for that matter.
03:38 So, Balochistan is a restive place,
03:41 and Gwadar happens to be in that place.
03:43 Balochistan has been a hotcake to handle for Pakistan.
03:48 We have seen time and again people being sent back,
03:52 not allowed to get into the mainstream in Pakistan,
03:57 and there has been a visible,
04:00 as far as opposition to Pakistan's policies
04:04 to the Baloch people.
04:06 And this particular attack on Wednesday,
04:09 again, tells you how meticulously the attack was planned,
04:14 and the way intelligence agencies
04:18 and paramilitary forces have read it in Pakistan.
04:21 It looks like that the attackers carried out many blasts,
04:25 and it was followed with a gun attack.
04:27 Police are also saying that the forces responded
04:33 to the attackers quickly,
04:34 and eight attackers were killed as of now.
04:38 Seven to eight is what the reports are saying.
04:40 The Baloch Liberation Army, also known as BLA,
04:42 the most prominent of the civil separatist groups
04:45 in Balochistan, has claimed the responsibility
04:47 for the assault in a statement saying
04:49 its attackers attacked Pakistan intelligence agencies'
04:53 officers also in the past as well.
04:56 The BLA has previously been involved in attacks
04:58 on Pakistani and Chinese interests in the region
05:01 and elsewhere as well.
05:02 Pakistan's military and interior ministry
05:04 did not give any details on the attack so far.
05:07 The deep water port is key
05:08 to China-Pakistan economic corridor, CPEC,
05:11 as mentioned earlier,
05:12 and it also encompasses roads and energy projects,
05:16 and is part of China's much-anticipated
05:20 and ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.
05:23 Chinese targets have previously also come under the attack
05:26 by several terrorist groups in Pakistan,
05:29 and this time around, the attack on Wednesday
05:31 comes as no surprise,
05:32 but Pakistan will have to keep a very close eye
05:35 on what is the sentiment,
05:37 how things are placed as of now,
05:39 lending and giving away its land, sea,
05:43 and ports to China,
05:45 whether it is going to help bail out Pakistan,
05:49 bail Pakistan out of its miseries,
05:51 the economic miseries we have seen,
05:52 how Pakistan has been faring as of now,
05:55 the cost of the essential commodities
05:58 like bread, flour, petrol,
06:01 all of them are skyrocketing.
06:03 And in this scenario, a new government in place,
06:06 I think for Shahbaz Sharif,
06:08 definitely it's time to check
06:11 what has been going on so far,
06:14 and also not let Pakistan give away its own interests
06:18 just to save its economy.
06:20 Maybe internal shakeup could actually,
06:24 internal assessment could actually give them
06:26 better financial situation and solutions
06:30 rather than depending on China,
06:31 and this time around this particular attack,
06:33 once again, resonates with the opposition
06:36 that is there within Pakistan
06:39 about the, over the Chinese interests
06:42 in that particular country.
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