Pakistan’s new FM visits Chinese embassy, regrets loss of life in Karachi suicide bombing

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s new foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Wednesday expressed regret over the loss of life in a suicide attack in Karachi that targeted Chinese nationals, saying it was a “failed attempt” by militants to damage the longstanding relations between the two countries.
Bhutto-Zardari issued the statement while visiting the Chinese embassy in Islamabad soon after taking oath to his office which made him the youngest foreign minister in his country’s history.
Four people, including three Chinese nationals, were killed in a deadly suicide bombing in front of Karachi University’s Confucius Institute, a Chinese cultural center, which was later claimed by the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also directed the authorities to increase the security of Chinese residents and institutions in Pakistan.
“The relationship between Pakistan and China is a series of loyalties from generation to generation,” the foreign minister said. “Terrorists made a failed attempt to strike at the foundation of China-Pakistan friendship.”
He added such malicious intentions of militants would not sabotage the relationship between the two countries.
Baloch nationalist groups have regularly targeted Chinese workers in Pakistan where Beijing has been undertaking lucrative mining, energy and infrastructure development projects.
A BLA spokesperson on Wednesday threatened Beijing with “harsher” attacks until it stopped its “exploitation projects” in the country’s southwestern Balochistan province.
“Hundreds of highly trained male and female members of the Baloch Liberation Army’s Majeed Brigade are ready to carry out deadly attacks in any part of Balochistan and Pakistan,” spokesman Jeeyand Baloch warned in a statement published in English.
Reacting to Tuesday’s incident, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson maintained the “ironclad friendship” between China and Pakistan was unbreakable, reported the Associated Press of Pakistan.
“Once again, we mourn the passing of the Chinese and Pakistani victims and extend our sincere sympathies to the victims and to the injured and the bereaved families,” Wang Wenbin said.
“We will work together with Pakistan to crack down on terrorist forces and make sure the culprits behind the attack pay a heavy price,” he added.