ISLAMABAD: China’s confidence in Pakistan’s ability to provide security to its nationals has been “seriously shaken” after a recent suicide bombing in Karachi that claimed the lives of four people, said a local newspaper on Sunday while quoting the top official of the Senate Defense Committee.
Three Chinese citizens and their Pakistani driver were killed last month when a female suicide bomber detonated herself near a Chinese language learning center at the University of Karachi.
The attack was claimed by the separatist Baloch Liberation Army, as security forces said the attacker had specifically targeted the Chinese workers.
“The Chinese confidence in Pakistan’s security system’s ability to protect their citizens and their projects is seriously shaken,” Senator Mushahid Hussain, who led a delegation of lawmakers to the Chinese embassy soon after the bombing, told Dawn newspaper.
“It has caused serious concern and understandable indignation in China. More so, the pattern of attacks is so recurring and it’s clear that Pakistani promises of ‘foolproof security’ are mere words, not matched by countermeasures on the ground,” he added.
Chinese workers in Pakistan have also been targeted by militant groups in the past.
In July 2021, 10 Chinese nationals were killed after an explosion on their bus in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
Chinese nationals have also been attacked by separatists in Balochistan, where Beijing is involved in huge infrastructure projects as part of its Belt and Road Initiative.
“If such attacks continue, not just Chinese but other foreign investors will be forced to review their role in Pakistan,” Hussain said.
While Chinese officials have condemned attacks against its nationals and urged Pakistani authorities to bring their perpetrators to justice, they have also acknowledged that Pakistanis from all walks of life have criticized such incidents.
“Pakistani people from all sectors also condemned the terrorist attack and mourned for the victims,” China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Friday. “This further demonstrates that the China-Pakistan all-weather friendship is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and is the consensus of the ruling party as well as the opposition.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari also visited the Chinese embassy in Pakistan following the attack in Karachi to express their condolences.
Pakistan’s top Senate Defense Committee official says Chinese confidence ‘shaken’ after Karachi attack
https://arab.news/p5tyx
Pakistan’s top Senate Defense Committee official says Chinese confidence ‘shaken’ after Karachi attack
- Senator Mushahid Hussain says China skeptical of security arrangements for its nationals in Pakistan
- Hussain maintains such attacks can also force other foreign investors to review their role in the country
Officer among two killed in suicide blast targeting security forces in Pakistan’s northwest
- Multiple people were injured in the attack in Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
- It comes days after militants rammed explosive-laden vehicle into checkpost, killing 12 people
ISLAMABAD: Two security personnel, including an officer, were killed, while multiple others sustained injuries when a suicide blast targeted their vehicle in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, a police official said.
The suicide bomber hit his explosive-laden motorbike into an armored vehicle of security forces in Sara Darga area of KP’s Bannu district, according to a local police official who requested anonymity.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have carried out similar assaults in the region in past.
“The attack had damaged the armored vehicle, causing deaths and injuries,” he told Arab News, adding that they suspected the Pakistani Taliban to be behind the attack.
Pakistan has struggled to contain a surge in militancy in KP, which borders Afghanistan, in recent years, with militant groups, particularly the TTP, frequently targeting security forces, law enforcers and government officials in the region.
Earlier this week, Pakistani Taliban militants rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a checkpost jointly manned by security forces and law enforcement agencies in KP’s Bajaur district, killing 11 security personnel among 12 people, the Pakistani military’s media wing said.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of allowing the use of its soil and India of backing militant groups for cross-border attacks against Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi deny this.
