Pakistani militants who targeted Chinese interests in Balochistan designated as terrorists by US
- The Balochistan Liberation Army ‘is an armed separatist group that targets security forces and civilians, mainly in ethnic Baloch areas of Pakistan’
- The group has targeted China in Pakistan multiple times, including a brazen daylight attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi in November
The State Department said it was classifying the Balochistan Liberation Army as a global terrorist group, making it a crime for anyone in the United States to assist the militants and freezing any US assets they may have.
The Balochistan Liberation Army “is an armed separatist group that targets security forces and civilians, mainly in ethnic Baloch areas of Pakistan,” the State Department said in its designation.
How Chinese investment in Pakistan has energised a violent separatist movement
Claiming responsibility for the hotel attack, the Balochistan Liberation Army warned China to stop its “exploitative projects in Balochistan” and not to support the “genocide of Baloch people,” threatening further attacks.
The US designation of the group comes despite vocal concerns by Washington over the Belt and Road initiative, with Washington accusing China of imposing debt traps on developing nations.
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