THE regional escalation of war threats has led to increased terrorist activities, notably in Russia, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, with the Director of Russia’s Fed-eral Security Service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, accusing the US, UK and Ukraine of involvement in the Moscow concert hall attack that claimed over 139 lives, despite denials from Kyiv and claims of responsibility by an Islamic State affiliate.
Despite claims from the Islamic State affiliate taking responsibility for the at-tack and corroborating intelligence from US and French sources, Russian President Putin continues to assert alleged Ukrainian involvement, a stance refuted by President Zelenskyy, who accuses Putin of attempting to incite fer-vor amid ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Four gunmen who attacked the concert have been apprehended, with Rus-sian President Vladimir Putin suggesting they were en route to Ukraine, though Ukraine has refuted any connection to the assault. Critical analysis of the incident indicates meticulous planning, as evidenced by the timing of the random shooting amidst peak crowd presence. Notably, the attack coincided with the conclusion of the Russian presidential election, coinciding with a re-laxation of security measures in Moscow following a period of heightened alertness.
Bortnikov alleged that Western spy agencies could have assisted in the dead-liest terror attack on Russian soil in two decades, with Ukrainian special ser-vices having a direct part in it. The US identified ISIS-Khorasan as responsible for the attack, a group fixated on Russia due to its military campaigns against ISIS in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Syria, and Iraq, aiming to establish a Muslim caliphate across multiple countries.
Latest attack in Russia has become hot topic in the regional as well as inter-national media. It has spillover geopolitical and geostrategic ramifications. Most of the Western media claimed it as false flag operation ultimately provid-ing ample reason to Kremlin to further accelerate its martial activities against Ukraine. However, whatever the reason, Russia will now swiftly respond and create a matching balancing act very soon. It fears that Black Sea will witness another round of fresh war escalation in near future.
On the other hand, Pakistan has also been in the line of fire because of a se-ries of deadly terrorist attacks. The attacks on defence forces caravan in North Waziristan, Gwadar Port Complex, Naval aviation station, Turbat and last but not the least, killing of five Chinese nationals in Bisham, Kohistan, KP, shocked the newly formed federal government and military establishment of the country alike. Both have been striving hard to attract more and more in-flows of foreign direct investment in the country, however, the most recent ter-rorist attack badly damaged these efforts which have now been reversed somehow.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province has become a hotspot for national and international terrorist groups, especially in Kohistan and Waziristan. Their proximity to Afghanistan’s Kapisa province enables groups like Al-Qaeda, the Haqqani Network, and TTP to infiltrate Pakistan. The resurgence of ISIS-Khorasan in KP and parts of Balochistan signals a critical security challenge for defense forces and intelligence agencies.
Allegedly the ISIS-K has been receiving funds from ISIS, Terik-e-Taliban Af-ghanistan and its global sponsors like US and CIA. Initially, ISIS was formed and financed by the US establishment to initiate many destructive activities in Iraq, Syria, Libya and many parts around the globe.
Its strategic alliance with TTP, TTA, BLA and Majeed Group has devastating consequences for Pakistan and rest of the regional countries. Allegedly, the ISIS-K is also involved in Xinjiang region thus China considers current surge in terrorist activities as potential security threat to its socio-economic, geopo-litical and geostrategic vested interests in the region and beyond.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited the Chi-nese embassy to extend heartfelt condolences on behalf of the government and people of Pakistan after the tragic killing of Chinese citizens in the terror-ist attack in Bisham. They expressed solidarity with the Chinese people during their time of mourning, emphasizing that Pakistan shared their grief. Both leaders pledged to take all necessary measures to ensure the security of Chi-nese citizens working on various projects in Pakistan, underscoring the impor-tance of safeguarding their well-being amidst regional challenges.
Chinese Ambassador Zaidong expressed gratitude to both leaders for per-sonally visiting the embassy to extend condolences and acknowledged the condemnation of the terrorist attack by people from all walks of life in Paki-stan. Zaidong emphasized the significant contribution of Chinese workers to Pakistan’s socio-economic development and condemned terrorism as an af-front to humanity. He stressed the importance of bolstering counterterrorism cooperation and providing enhanced security to Chinese workers in Pakistan, reaffirming China’s commitment to strengthening cooperation with Pakistan, particularly in projects like the CPEC.
In summary, it is high time to form a joint security system for the safety and security of the Chinese nationals working in the different projects of CPEC in the country. Hawkish regional secret agencies are conducting these terrorist operations with the help of local sympathizers, facilitators and sleep-cells.
Since stakes are very high for Pakistan and China so it is high time to over-haul our security apparatus and to fix faults and emerging faulty lines in our systems. Enemies of development, prosperity, connectivity and humanity are in search of an escape-goat to weaken Pak-China bilateral relations and derail the CPEC project.
Joint surveillance system, aerial monitoring mechanism, information sharing system, joint anti-terrorism operations and discarding of narrative of a percep-tion war because it is a full fledge war perplexes by our enemies to contain China and disturb Pakistan’s peaceful persuasions of socio-economic integra-tion and prosperity.
The writer is Executive Director at the Centre for South & International Studies (CSAIS) Islamabad, Regional Expert: China, CPEC & BRI
