HYDERABAD: Over four dozen suspects, including members of the Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM) — a proscribed nationalist outfit — and Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) and some Bugti clansmen, were rounded up in a combing operation carried out by the police and Rangers in Sukkur district on Thursday.

The operation was launched soon after a low-intensity blast that occurred on Wednes­day about 1.5 kilometres away from a camp site of Chinese engineers and their subordinates engaged in the China-Pakistan Econo­mic Corridor (CPEC)-related projects near Rohri town.

“Those detained are activists and connected with the JSSM and JSQM; some others are Bugti clansmen currently working at a crushing plant being run by the Chinese,” a police source said, adding that the detained Bugtis’ features resembled those suspects who were spotted at the blast site before it occurred.

Different sources put different number of suspects detained since the incident. One source confirmed the figure of 45 but some others put it at 57.

Sindh Inspector-General of Police A.D. Khowaja speaking to Dawn over phone said that the modus operandi of blast appeared identical to the one that occurred outside the Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) on Dec 9 causing injuries to a Rangers man.

He recalled that it was an improvised explosive device (IED) packed in a pressure cooker, which was placed on a bicycle.

It went off when a vehicle carrying Rangers personnel passed by.

Facts gathered about the Wednesday blast near Rohri suggested that it was also an IED that went off about 1.5km from the Pyala camp site -- one of the three such sites within the area where Chinese are working — barely 40 seconds after a van carrying Chinese man, Ladi Juim, crossed the point. A policeman was accompanying him.

JSMM is struggling for the freedom of Sindh and resisting the CPEC as its stated policy. It is led by Shafi Burfat, who is currently in exile in Germany, according to some media reports. The group is an offshoot of the JSQM.

A senior police officer said that the blast was being seen as an attempt to sabotage CPEC and terrify the Chinese people working on it.

Mr Juim was on its way to the Pyala camp site when the blast occurred. The other two sites are Mahesro and Sangi. A fair number of Chinese are staying in these camps and around 90 vehicles in their use ply within the area (Sukkur district) for different chores.

“Following the blast, police officers visited all three camps to advise the Chinese to be extraordinary security conscious,” says a source.

According to latest reports, army personnel have taken over the security of the three Chinese camps in Sukkur as well as two others in Ghotki district.

The federal government has raised a ‘special security division’ for the CPEC.

IGP Khowaja says that 1,028 policemen have already been recruited exclusively for the CPEC security in Sindh.

“These recruits are mostly retired soldiers. Another 1,000 are to be recruited,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2016