Daily Times

The gunmen who stormed a five-star hotel in Gwadar on Saturday afternoon and killed at least one guard have been shot dead by security forces. While condemning the attack and offering condolences to the family of the deceased, both Pakistani and Chinese officials said the violence would not deter work on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor of which Gwadar port is the linchpin. Early reports had suggested that guests had been evacuated safely but a hotel spokesman as well as a provincial minister later said there were no guests and few staff due to Ramazan.

That is nearly all of the good news.

The bad news is the security breach, all the more serious considering the heavy military presence in the city. The attack and the subsequent siege lasted several hours.

There is clearly no way the security personnel can be faulted for their response to the emergency. The guard at the entrance was not just present and alert to the threat, he was also determined not to let the armed men pass unchallenged and eventually paid for it with his life. Also, the security level may have been a notch higher had there not been a lull in the business on account of Ramazan. We are told that the police, the Anti-Terrorism Force and the military all rushed to the scene and did not allow the terrorists to take any hostages or to dig in. All in all there performance may have been satisfactory. The point is the attack should not have happened in the first place. Given the sensitivity of the situation this is an imperative.

The Balochistan Liberation Army has claimed the attack, saying the hotel was selected in order to target Chinese and other investors.

This is not the first time the BLA has targeted Chinese interests. Last year it had carried out an attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi. The BLA is opposed to Chinese investment, saying it is of little benefit to local people.

This is also not the first time the hotel, popular with top government officials and foreign visitors, has been attacked by militants. The last time it was attacked with rockets.

Militant activity, cited very early CPEC’s detractors as a major threat to its viability, is clearly not a thing of the past. That Balochistan, home to a long-running insurgency, shares a porous border with Afghanistan and Iran is another complicating factor.

While the security agencies do their job, the only long-term answer to militancy is to deprive it of popular support. Winning the hearts and minds of the people in whose name the militants spill blood and in whose misery hostile foreign forces find the space to infiltrate is a job for the politicians. The challenge has never been clearer. *