Beijing: Pakistan’s ‘Iron Brother’ and ‘All-Weather Ally’ China has been less than satisfied with the country’s investigation into the Besham terror attack which killed 5 Chinese engineers, as Beijing has asked Islamabad to carry out a more detailed probe into the matter.
For the March 26 attack, Pakistan has blamed Tehreek-e-Taliban-Pakistan (TTP) and alleged assistance from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan but the Islamist outfit has denied its role.
On March 26, a suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden vehicle into a bus carrying Chinese engineers and Pakistani workers in Besham area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing 5 Chinese nationals and a Pakistani driver.
Releasing a statement just a day after Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi addressed a press conference and blamed TTP and Afghanistan for the deadly attack, Chinese Foreign Ministry made it clear that it wanted Islamabad to “get to the full bottom of what happened”.
“China attaches great importance to the significant progress made by the Pakistani side in the investigation of the terrorist attack,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.
“China supports Pakistan in continuing to get to the full bottom of what happened, and hunting down and bringing to justice all the perpetrators,” she said.
She added that the two nations “will continue to work” to strengthen security cooperation and ensure the safety and security of Chinese personnel, projects, and institutions in Pakistan.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also reaffirmed Beijing’s commitment to continue working with Pakistani authorities to strengthen security cooperation and ensure the safety and security of Chinese personnel while terming terrorism “a common enemy”.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also called countries in the region to strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation, root out terrorist organisations, remove their breeding ground and protect the common security and development interests of all countries.
Earlier, China had asked Pakistan to do its “utmost” to protect thousands of Chinese workers involved in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects.
This was conveyed during Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar’s visit to Beijing on May 15 to co-chair the fifth round of the Foreign Minister-Level China-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue, with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Chinese workers have been targets in Pakistan previously too.
In 2021, a suicide bomber attacked a bus carrying Chinese workers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and killed two Chinese nationals and a Pakistani driver.
Prior to that in 2019, a blast at a hotel in Quetta, Balochistan province, killed two Chinese nationals and injured several others. The attack was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group.
