KARACHI: An attack by a Pakistani separatist group on the Chinese consulate in Karachi in November last year was planned in Afghanistan on the orders of India’s main spy agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), a senior police official in the port city said on Friday.
Three attackers stormed the Chinese consulate in Karachi on November 23, killing four people. Security forces killed the three attackers who were carrying explosives.
“The terrorists arrested during a joint operation by the Special Security Unit (SSU) and intelligence agencies today morning have divulged that the plan to carry out terrorist attack on the Chinese consulate was prepared in Afghanistan at the behest of RAW,” Additional Inspector General Police Dr. Amir Ahmed Shaikh told Arab News.
A statement by police in Karachi issued on Friday, January 11, 2019, alleging that the attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi last November was planned in Afghanistan on the orders of India's main spy agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
Earlier, while briefing media at his office, Shaikh had said the SSU and intelligence agencies had conducted a joint raid early on Friday in the Sadiq Baloch Goth area on the outskirts of Karachi and arrested five militants associated with the Baloch Liberation Army, who he said were planning a major attack.
“Law enforcement agencies thwarted the attack,” Shaikh told reporters, giving the names of the militants and saying a huge cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from their custody.
He alleged that during interrogation, the arrested militants had revealed that the attack on the Chinese consulate was planned by BLA’s head of planning and training, Aslam alias Acho and Basheer Zeb, the incumbent commander of the BLA, on the orders of the Indian spy agency. The reconnaissance was conducted in Aigust 2018 by Razzaq, one of the militants killed during the attack, explosives were provided by Arif alias Nadir, while Aslam Mugheri had helped the attackers obtain fake identity cards.
“Mugheri is an important commander of BLA and a close aide of Aslam Acho, who had been involved in the entire planning,” Shaikh said.
The Baloch Liberation Army is a separatist group that opposes projects linked to China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative in the resource-rich Baluchistan province. The group confirmed the death of Aslam Baloch and five others in a statement last month.
