ISLAMABAD, May 12: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday described yesterday’s attack targeting the Gwadar Pearl Continental Hotel as a bid to “sabotage prosperity” in the area, as police confirmed all the attackers had been killed.
The outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army had claimed responsibility for the attack in which at least three people were killed and four others injured by a handful of gunmen who stormed the luxury hotel in Gwadar, the centrepiece of the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Prime Minister Imran in a statement issued by PM Office today said that “such attempts, especially in Balochistan, are an effort to sabotage our economic projects and prosperity. We shall not allow these agendas to succeed”.
The Pearl Continental, part of Pakistan’s largest five-star hotel chain, is the only luxury hotel in Gwadar, frequented by foreign and Pakistani business delegations as well as diplomats.
It sits isolated on a ridge overlooking the Arabian Sea port city that was formerly a small fishing village, but is now touted by officials as “the next Dubai” thanks to CPEC. Part of China’s Belt and Road initiative, CPEC seeks to connect the western Chinese province of Xinjiang with Gwadar, with the development of the port there as a flagship project. Agencies
