ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Sunday demanded the Afghan interim government to hand over Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants involved in a suicide attack that killed five Chinese nationals and their driver in Pakistan’s northwest in March.
China is a major ally and investor in Pakistan but both separatist and other militants have attacked Chinese projects and personnel in recent years, including five Chinese workers who perished in the suicide attack on Mar. 26 while they were on their way to the Dasu hydropower project in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The Dasu hydropower project falls under the ambit of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative through which it has pledged more than $65 billion for road, rail and other infrastructure developments in the South Asian nation of 241 million people.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Naqvi said Pakistan’s relations with China were very important and both countries supported each other economically, politically and diplomatically, however, the cross-border threat from Afghanistan was becoming increasingly dangerous for regional security.
“We want good relations with Afghanistan, but this is only possible if they too support us and won’t let their soil be used for terrorism against us,” he said. “It is important that these terrorists present there, they [Afghan government] must arrest them, hold a trial against them or hand them over to us.”
The Dasu assault in March was the third major one in a little over a week on China’s interests.
It followed a Mar. 20 attack on a strategic port used by China in the southwestern province of Balochistan, where Beijing has poured billions of dollars into infrastructure projects, and a Mar. 25 assault on a naval air base, also in the southwest. Both attacks were claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of several separatist groups in Balochistan.
Naqvi said militants operating in Afghanistan were specifically compromising the security of Chinese nationals in Pakistan.
“Pakistan has raised this issue with the interim Afghan government and pressed them to rein in these terrorists operating there, but so far we are not receiving any positive results,” he said, adding that Islamabad was making “all-possible arrangements” to ensure the security of Chinese nationals working in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s counter-terrorism chief Rai Tahir, who was also present at Sunday’s presser by Naqvi, said authorities had arrested 11 militants who were involved in the Dasu suicide bombing that killed five Chinese engineers. The investigation and evidence showed the militants had been taking instructions from TTP leaders in Afghanistan, he said.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks in its western regions that border Afghanistan, particularly after the TTP called off its months-long, fragile truce with the Pakistani government in November 2022.
Last year, Islamabad ordered all illegal immigrants to leave Pakistan by Nov 1, triggering an exodus of foreigners, mostly Afghans, from the country.
Pakistan brushed off calls from the United Nations (UN), rights groups and Western embassies to reconsider the expulsion plan and said many of these Afghan nationals had been involved in militant attacks and in crimes that undermined the security of the country. Kabul denies the accusations and says Pakistani security is a domestic problem.

KARACHI: Pakistani woman athlete and journalist Mona Khan, who was arrested in Greece this week, has been released from prison, she said on Sunday, a day after the Pakistani Foreign Office said its mission was actively engaged with Greek authorities on the case.
Khan said she was stopped by Greek officials at a checkpoint on Friday afternoon, when she was going to Mount Olympus along with a team of climbers, and upon checking her passport, Greek authorities held her for investigation, from where they took her to jail.
The athlete, who also works with Pakistan’s state TV as a host and participated in the Athens marathon last year, said she wanted to wave the Pakistan flag and Kalima Tayyaba, a profession of the Islamic faith written on a cloth piece that means “there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,” on the highest mountain peak in Greece, some 433 kilometers away from Athens.
On Saturday, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Office, told Arab News the Pakistani mission in Athens was actively engaged with Greek officials to secure the release of the Pakistani athlete.
Speaking to Arab News after her release on Sunday, the Pakistani athlete said her release was “conditional” even though she had violated no rules of the host country, while she would also not be able to return to Greece for five years.
“They arrested me just when they saw my Pakistani passport and later questioned me when they found Kalima Tayyaba in my bag,” Khan said. “I am completely clueless as to why they arrested me, deprived me of a chance to accomplish my goal, and then asked me to leave.”
She said she was asked to sign documents that she would not enter another European country despite having visas and would return to Pakistan within 20 days.
“It’s my right to know what laws I have violated,” Khan said. “I was there for a healthy activity, but what happened to me caused me mental stress.”
Greek authorities have not issued any statement on Khan’s detention, while the Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson did not respond, when asked about reasons for her detention and whether Pakistan planned to lodge a protest with Greek authorities in case Khan had not violated any laws of the host country.
“Jailed for doing nothing and just because of being Pakistani,” Khan said, after reuniting with her son, who was waiting for her to return after completing the mission to wave the Pakistani flag and the Islamic scripture on Mount Olympus.
“He asked for the video where I was supposed to wave the flag. I didn’t end his excitement and didn’t tell him about my ordeal.”