China-Pakistan Anti-terror Military Drills 2024: Opportunities & Challenges

In the backdrop of sharp upticks in terrorist attacks, Pakistan has been grappling hard to fight back to purge the country from menace of terrorism by all means. Given the grim situation, Pakistan desperately needs help, guidance and inspiration.

As a time-tested friend that has never left Pakistan in the lurch, China has come forward to help enhance Pakistan’s combat proficiency in accordance with modern technology and state of art techniques to incapacitate terrorist networks and groups in Pakistan.

The China-Pakistan joint anti-terrorism exercise coded “Warrior-VIII” has kicked off at the National Counter Terrorism Center in Pabbi, Pakistan during the third week of November. During the exercise, the participating troops of the two militaries have engaged in mixed training and live drills. This is the eighth of the “Warrior” series between the Chinese and Pakistani militaries which will last from late November to mid-December.

The importance of China-Pakistan counterterror cooperation

For this exercise, more than 300 soldiers are from the special operations, army aviation and logistic support troops. Technically speaking, the China-Pakistan army drills are a shot in the arm of Pakistan’s anti-terrorist measures.

Boosted with high-octane confidence after China-Pakistan anti-terrorist trainings and exercises, the province of Balochistan — one of the victims of extreme terrorism — has announced a targeted operation in the territory on November 25.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti has vowed to nip the evil in the bud. In this regard, the Apex Committee — a civil-military body —formally approved a comprehensive military operation against terrorist organisations operating in the province.

The top civil-military body gave its nod to a military operation in Balochistan against terrorist groups including the Majeed Brigade, BLA, BLF and BRAS who are targeting innocent civilians and foreign nationals to scuttle Pakistan’s economic progress by creating insecurity at the behest of hostile external powers.

It is pertinent to mention that, China-Pakistan military drills took effect following Islamabad’s steps for seeking help from the Chinese government in recent times in the backdrop of mounting terrorist attacks on civilians, Pakistani troops and Chinese nationals that caused many deaths and injuries.

Enchanted by Chinese brethren assistance and military operation, Federal Apex Committee of the National Action Plan held with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the chair focused on the “Reinvigorating Pakistan’s Counter Terrorism Campaign”.

The meeting also agreed upon revitalisation of National Counter-Terrorism Authority (Nacta) and the establishment of National and Provincial Intelligence Fusion and Threat Assessment Centre.

The statement said civil-military leadership adopted a whole-of-system approach, incorporating diplomatic, political, informational, intelligence, socio-economic, and military efforts to address these issues comprehensively.

Specific emphasis was placed on strengthening collaboration between federal and provincial governments and between relevant institutions and ministries to ensure seamless execution of the counter-terrorism campaign. It was decided to establish District Coordination Committees under the provincial apex committees to ensure implementation of directions received from federal and provincial governments.

In addition to this, the forum demonstrated political resolve to dismantle the ecosystem of illegal spectrum and crime-terror nexus. Speaking on the occasion, COAS General Munir reiterated the Pakistan Army’s unwavering resolve to eliminate all threats to national security and provide robust support to the government’s initiatives aimed at ensuring peace and stability.

All those who create obstruction in Pakistan’s security or try to stop them from performing their duty would face punishment, he added. The army chief also called for putting up a collective fight against the menace of terrorism. “Every Pakistani is a soldier in the war against terrorism, whether in uniform or not.”

Pakistan’s counterterrorist efforts

Frankly speaking, military operations is not the only solution to terrorist quagmire. It is one of many anti-terrorist measures. There are many more that should have been employed to make a real difference.

For instance, given the terrorist surge against foreign people especially Chinese nationals, an exclusive security mechanism separate from all national anti-terrorist arrangements is highly necessitated to be formulated to protect the Chinese in Pakistan.

Fully supported by malicious international players, nexus of evils predominantly Balochistan separatist groups on the pattern of East Turkestan Islamic Movement once battered China’s Xinjiang, have ganged up with one another to sabotage regional peace, CPEC and Pak-China relations.

In order to clamp them down completely, a focused separate security mechanism is the solution if mandated to devise prolific action plans with single moto of securing safety of thousands of Chinese people working in Pakistan.

Current security-driven instruments like National Action Plan, National Counterterrorism Authority, National Intelligence Coordination Committee (NICC) and others have their own specific functionalities and responsibilities. They lack a single focus on Chinese security in totality.

The ongoing situation implies that if single-agenda based security structure solely emphasizing Chinese persons’ safety is formed against terrorist organizations such as BLA, better security sense will prevail. It is direly needed to make things happen to expand the scope and coordination of all available institutional security instruments in Pakistan.

During the last couple of years, Pakistan started to invest in its security sector apparatus and created several new armed units within the military and civilian police domains. To begin with, there was the creation of the new Special Security Division (SSD). The SSD consisted of regular armed forces and elements of the “Civil Armed Forces” (CAF), which is a federal paramilitary force within the Ministry of Interior. Besides the Pakistan Army (PA), the Pakistani Navy (PN) has also assembled new forces for CPEC protection, such as the “Task Force-88” (TF-88) for the seaward security of the Gwadar port and protection of associated sea lanes against both traditional/conventional and nontraditional threats. The PN also raised a Coastal Security and Harbour Defence Force to tackle security threats along the coast and stationed a Force Protection Battalion (FPB, consisting of Pakistan Marines) at Gwadar for the protection of Chinese companies and workers. Furthermore, Pakistan implemented several measures to enhance its Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), for example, through the establishment of a “Joint Maritime Information and Coordination Center” (JMICC) and “Coastal Watch Stations” (CWSs), as well as stepping up collaborative maritime security practices, not only with regional navies but especially with the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). Besides the aforementioned security measures focusing mainly on Gwadar and the larger maritime component of the CPEC, the central authorities also boosted their police capacities to ensure law and order along the corridor.

A holistic approach to eradicating terrorism

Pakistan also needs to learn lessons from China because the Chinese government has successfully eliminated terrorism in Xinjiang. China has the best case in this regard to go through for motivation. In order to wipe out terrorism in Xinjiang, Chinese leadership laid down game-changing policies for public uplift and ensured quality of life for local people in Xinjiang.

Actually, I am an eyewitness to the development in Xinjiang. Contrary to the false narrative by the U.S. and the West, I observed positive vibes reflected through the improvement of living standards of common people in Xinjiang when traveled and stayed in Xinjiang during a media & think-tank delegation in Kashi and Urumqi in December 2023. The human rights situation in Xinjiang has been significantly improved after counterterrorism measures were effectively carried out per the law. Not a single terrorist incident has happened in Xinjiang since 2017.

Upholding the principle of fighting and preventing terrorism Xinjiang has been making every effort to protect the fundamental human rights of citizens. Specific measures include improving public well-being, promoting knowledge of the law through education, and offering education and aid through vocational education and training centers in accordance with the law.

Making great efforts to ensure and improve public well-being. Public well-being is vital to people’s happiness and to social harmony and stability. In recent years, following a people-centered approach to development, Xinjiang has focused on ensuring and improving people’s standard of living and implementing projects that benefit the public in employment, education, medical care, social security, and other fields.

As China is helping Pakistan revamp its counterterrorism steps, Pakistan also needs to stay aligned with the framework of the Global Security Initiative (GSI).

Over the last few months, the terrorist attacks have been taking a heavy toll on the security landscape of various parts of Pakistan, especially those areas where Chinese nationals have been working on projects either related to CPEC or not.

GSI was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 21, 2022. It identifies six commitments including common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, abiding by the purpose and principles of the UN Charter, taking the security concerns of all countries seriously, peacefully resolving disputes between countries through dialogue, and maintaining security in both traditional and non-traditional fields.

China’s Global Security Initiative offers a holistic approach to addressing the complex security challenges facing the world today. Pakistan can leverage this initiative to strengthen its security capabilities, foster regional cooperation, and promote peace and stability in the region.

The article reflects the author’s opinions, and not necessarily the views of China Focus.