Pakistan Terrorist Bus Attack in Gilgit-Baltistan (Restive Baluchistan)
Michiyo Tanabe and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
Sunni Islamic terrorism, sectarianism, ethnic issues, poverty, and political intrigues blight Pakistan.
Accordingly, another terrorist attack targeting a bus in Gilgit-Baltistan province isn’t a shock. It is a reality that blights this country – the same concerns institutional discrimination against the Ahmadiyya, Christians, Hindus, and other minorities.
Voice of America reports, “Arif Ahmad, the area deputy commissioner, said the “cowardly act” targeted a bus traveling to the garrison city of Rawalpindi on the Karakoram Highway that connects Pakistan to China.”
Reuters reports, “Muhammad Ali Johar, a spokesman for the regional government, said militants had opened fire on the bus on Saturday evening and the wounded had been taken to a local hospital.”
Buddhism once flourished in Gilgit-Baltistan before Islamic invasions and Sufi policies of sowing religious confusion altered the course of history – similar to the crushing of Buddhism and Hinduism in modern-day Afghanistan. However, Islam didn’t generate unity, modernity, or religious solace. Henceforth, the nations of Afghanistan and Pakistan are blighted by sectarianism, Takfiri ideology, ethnic issues, terrorism, and a place where religious minorities are persecuted.
Several other recent terrorist attacks in the region of Gilgit-Baltistan were perpetrated by the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP). Pakistan blames the recent upturn in terrorist attacks on terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan under the Taliban. However, the Taliban denies this.
Ironically, Afghanistan accused Pakistan of allowing terrorist sanctuaries before the Taliban returned to power.
Baluchistan
In Baluchistan (Balochistan), insurgents in this resource-rich and strategic area blame China and Pakistan for exploiting the natural resources of this part of Pakistan.
Insurgents in this restive area seek independence.
The Baluch (Baloch) seeks to control their respective resources of copper, gold, iron ore, oil, and other resources. Hence, insurgents in Baluchistan want to end Pakistan and China utilizing the resources of this resource-rich region.
The BBC reports, “Balochistan is a sparsely populated region, rich in gas and coal reserves, as well as copper and gold. Yet it has remained Pakistan’s most impoverished province. Baloch nationalists have long accused the central government of exploitation and denying the province its due rights.”
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