Construction on the recently completed 893 kilometer long Gwadar-Ratodero motorway, also known as M8, was started by a Chinese contractor back in early 2004 on former President Pervez Musharraf’s watch. The work was soon abandoned when three Chinese engineers were killed by a car bomb during the first week of May, 2004. In 2003, a year before this incident, Indian intelligence agency RAW had recruited Kulbhushan Jadhav as an undercover agent. He was issued a passport under an assumed name of Hussein Mubarak Patel and sent to Chabahar in Iran to orchestrate insurgent attacks next door in Balochistan.
After the Chinese left the project, another contractor who was awarded the project could not continue M8 construction. Eventually, Pakistan Army’s Frontier Works Organization (FWO) completed the project 13 years later in 2017. This success has come at great cost in terms of time, money and human lives. FWO has lost dozens of military and civilian employees and many more have been injured in insurgent attacks. Meanwhile, a combination of military and intelligence operations by Pakistan Army and serious infighting among militants have significantly weakened the Baloch insurgency.
M8 Motorway
The M8 motorway connects Ratodero in Sindh to Gwadar in Balochistan. It is 893 long and runs through Baloch cities of Khuzdar, Awaran, Hoshab and Turbat along its east-west route. Its recently completed first phase has two lanes and an additional two lanes are planned to handle future traffic growth. The motorway passes over Dasht River and also provides access to Mirani Dam completed in 2006. It is the world’s largest dam in terms of floodstock capacity of 588,690 cubic hectometer
Local Baloch residents now use M8 motorway on a daily basis. They say it has significantly reduced the time needed to travel from Gwadar to Turbat, and indeed, reduced the time for produce and supplies to be transported between cities, according a report in local Pakistani media.
Indian Support of Baloch Insurgency
The current Baloch Nationalist revolt in Pakistan started in 2003, the same year that Indian intelligence agency RAW recruited Kulbhushan Jadhav and gave him a new identity as Hussein Mubarak Patel, according to Indian media reports. This was three years before the killing of Baloch leader Akbar Bugti on August 26, 2006. Jadhav was sent to Chabahar in Iran to orchestrate insurgent attacks next door in Balochistan.
Kulbhushan Jadhav was arrested in Balochistan in 2016. He has confessed to orchestrating insurgent attacks on targets in Balochistan that resulted in deaths, injuries and destruction of property.
India’s former RAW officers, including one ex chief, have blamed Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, arrested by Pakistan in 2016, for getting caught in Pakistan as a “result of unprofessionalism”, according to a report in India’s “The Quint” owned and operated by a joint venture of Bloomberg News and Quintillion Media. The report that appeared briefly on The Quint website has since been removed, apparently under pressure from the Indian government.
It is believed to be the strongest and longest of the insurgencies seen in Pakistani Balochistan which has had earlier bouts of it in 1948, 1958-59, 1962-63 and 1973-77.
State of Baloch Insurgency
Baloch insurgency has been significantly weakened recently by the continuing military and intelligence operations of the Pakistan Army. The other probably more significant reason for it is serious infighting among insurgent groups from various tribes, according to some analysts and a former US military intelligence officer retired US Lt. Col. Ralph Peters who supports Baloch insurgency.
In a US Congressional hearing on Balochistan, Peters said the most serious issues with the Baloch independence movement is “deeply troubling” infighting, according to a report in HuffPost. He condemned such bickering; going so far as to assert: “they are quickly becoming their own worst enemies.”
Peters has also pointed out gross human rights violations committed by Baloch insurgents against civilians. He said, “I am very concerned with Baloch extremists. Killing teachers and doctors is just dumb. It might feel good as revenge but it is not going to win you friends in Washington. Assassinating these folks is just hurting their movement.”
Frontier Works Organization (FWO)
The Frontier Works Organization (FWO) is a branch of the Pakistan Army that employs both active duty military officers and civilians. It was commissioned in 1966 and its first major project was the construction of the Karkoram Highway, the world’s highest road that connects Pakistan with China. Since then, the FWO has built motorways, bridges, roads, tunnels, airfields and dams in Pakistan.
FWO has successfully completed several large construction projects in some of the most hostile conditions ranging from rough hilly terrains to insurgency-hit parts in Balochistan and federally administered tribal areas (FATA). This success has come at great cost in terms of human lives. Dozens of FWO’s military and civilian employees have lost their lives and many more have been injured in insurgent attacks.
China Pakistan Economic Corridor
Currently, FWO is engaged in several large infrastructure projects related to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. In addition to major road construction, FWO is building housing, water projects, power plants and oil refineries in different parts of the country.
Various militant groups, including Indian government proxies, are engaged in sabotaging CPEC. While some attacks have been successful, it is believed that the Pakistani military has been able to prevent many more. Thousands of soldiers and hundreds of intelligence officers are believed to be working to manage the security situation all along the western route and in Gwadar.
Published in Daily Times, April 9th 2018.