Gwadar, situated at Pakistan's south-west coast are going to be Pakistan's new energy port and hub for storage and refining. Gwadar is a gigantic project. In addition to becoming a huge energy port and hub, it will become a "Las Vegas" with lots of tourist hotels and casinos. Huge investments have been made in this project. The Chinese have invested at least over $200 Billion (two hundred Billion dollars!) in Gwadar alone, and they are also planning a naval base there! Look at the map, it's a very strategic location near the Strait of Hormuz. They want to secure supply of oil and gas from Iran via Gwadar to China.

But there are obstacles... There's a lot of unrest in and around Gwadar. Explosions and sabotage actions against oil facilities and hotels happens all the time. Lots of Chinese engineers have been killed in Gwadar. "Insurgents" are supplied with weapons, etc. to cause trouble. Taliban is present. And in addition, the local population are getting ripped off by their government, and they are poor and angry about this whole thing. There's a proxy war. India for instance, does not like the idea of a Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean. And India does not like Pakistan, but that's old news.

Musharraf has approved

Other Means: The White Elephant of Gwadar?


Consider also the possibility that the security situation is now so poor in the area surrounding the port - and more widely in the surrounding province of Balochistan - that even the port's authorities are reportedly questioning whether the facility can become operational in the near term.

Couldn't Gwadar and Balochistan thus become the scene of a proxy conflict between China-Pakistan and India? It may already be so, with the Pakistani regime mainly propped up by the Chinese and its military supplied with Chinese weapons, while there have been accusations of India supplying arms to the Baloch.

General Pervez Musharraf: Gwadar Port: first phase to be operational within next two months

July 30 2006


Gwadar a new economic hub of Pakistan is located at the entrance of Persian Gulf.It has immense geo economic significance.

With the functioning of Gwadar port Pakistan will become a key player in the Gulf region and serving as an energy corridor for Central Asia, South Asia and Western Part of China.

Gwadar is situated at a location where 40 percent oil ships are passing.

Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti was murdered by Musharraf's troops. This murder is major, so look out for tsunami effect on this one. (Btw, Bugti said in 1973 that men in tin foil hats were running the province... )

Here are some quotes from articles submitted to the web today:

Bugti Murder -Shocked Into Sensibility

THE year was perhaps 1973. There was a meeting of the federal executive council of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists in Quetta . Nawab Akbar Bugti was prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s choice then as governor of Balochistan.

When some of us sought to ask for details about the military operation, Nawab Bugti said: ‘Why ask me? Ask the men in the tin hats. They are running the province.’ They are still doing it, with ever more frightening consequences appearing daily before us.

All this is extremely clichéd, but unless we repeatedly hold a mirror to our faces we will never fully understand what we have done to ourselves or why the killing of Nawab Bugti is being viewed with such grave foreboding by so many. Even whatever development we plan for Balochistan is now in jeopardy, and certainly the future of Gwadar Port , a project already a subject of dispute in the local/non-local context, has a big question mark over it.

Why fuss over Balochistan?


China has three requirements to maintain its growth: transit trade route for its western region, energy corridor to import oil from the Gulf region, and naval facilities for a foothold on the Arabian Sea coast to protect its energy supply line from the Middle East. The Gwadar Port could help China in enhancing its energy security by offering a transit terminal for oil imports from the Middle East and the Gulf region.

Musharraf will repent Bugti's killing


A large number of Chinese technocrats have been working in Gwadar. Last year Balochs killed many Chinese engineers and other technicians. The Chinese embassy pressed Pakistan Government for security of their personnel.

The rail and road connectivity under construction would connect Sinkiang with Balochistan's port city of Gwadar. The strategic partnership between China and Pakistan is not in the field of nuclear armaments only but China has greater stakes in the promotion of its commercial enterprises as well as naval encirclement of India. Chinese are doing the same on Myanmar front and have embarked on diplomatic manoeuvring in Bangladesh. Baloch fear all these Chinese-dominated developmental activities.

President of Pakistan Gen Pervez Musharraf

Musharraf apparently signed a peace deal with the Taliban on September 5th. Taliban is not a threat to him, but the Baloch freedom-fighters is. So instead of fighting a two-front war, he can now divert more troops and equipment (given by the US for counter-terrorism operations) to Balochistan. This move will likely lead to more Taliban attacks against the NATO forces in southern Afghanistan. Musharraf may even get help from the Taliban against the Balochs...

South Asia Analysis Group: MUSHARRAF SEEKS TALIBAN'S HELP AGAINST BALOCHS- INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR--PAPER NO. 116

06.09. 2006


Osama bin Laden himself and his No.2 Ayman al-Zawahiri live separately. They keep moving between North Waziristan, the adjoining Bajaur agency and the Chitral area adjoining the Northern Areas (Gilgit and Baltistan).

[---]

They reportedly pointed out that the activities of the Baloch freedom-fighters posed a threat to Pakistan's unity and territorial integrity whereas the activities of the remnants of the Al Qaeda and the Taliban did not pose a threat to Pakistan's unity and territorial integrity. They, therefore, urged that Musharraf should reach a cease-fire with the tribals in the FATA area and divert the troops deployed there in support of the operations of the US-led forces in Afghanistan to Balochistan.

12. Since the beginning of this year, Musharraf started shifting some of the troops and equipment given by the US for counter-terrorism operations in the FATA to Balochistan.

[---]

14. This peace agreement was signed on September 5, 2006.

[---]

19. His first national security priority now is to crush the Baloch freedom struggle.He is hoping that the peace agreement with the Talibanised tribals of North Waziristan would enable him not only to divert more troops to Balochistan, but also to seek the help of the Taliban elements in Balochistan in his operations against the Balochs.

[---]

22. The Miranshah agreement should be a cause for concern not only to the Balochs, but also to the NATO forces in Afghanistan. It is likely to lead to an intensification of the Taliban attacks in Afghan territory from Balochistan.

Counterterrorism Blog: Pakistan Expert Discusses Powerful Al Qaeda-Taliban Network in Waziristan

September 13, 2006


Musharraf is weaker than ever. He is slowly losing the military, his best ally, as indicated in the killing of Baluch tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti on August 26, which Alexis believes was done without Musharraf's orders. Other elites in Pakistan, including lower levels of the ISI (Pakistani intel) are also turning against him and the U.S., for a variety of reasons (more detailed than needed for this post). This also raises concerns over the control of Pakistani nuclear weapons. The timing of the recent North Waziristan "peace agreement" was probably purposeful and further highlights Musharraf's weakness.

Indianmuslims.info: Probe sought into Bugti killing

Sep 17


Sind nationalists in Pakistan have made common cause with rebels in Balochistan in demanding a judicial probe into the killing of Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti by the army. At a seminar in Hyderabad city, they demanded that a postmortem be conducted on Bugti by an international team of experts and a probe held into the circumstances leading to his killing, the News International reported Sunday.

Speakers at the meeting termed it a "conspiracy" the setting up of a deep-sea port at Gwadar in Balochistan. It was meant to settle people from Punjab and turn the Balochis into minorities in their own state, they said. The meeting called for shelving of all mega projects that uprooted the local population, the newspaper said.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Originally posted by Dark Vader in this post

we learned that a Baloch leader was killed, Bugti. The truth about his death is that Beijing had a contract on him.