China, Pakistan should engage in greater counter-terrorism cooperation to combat hostile forces: Khurshid Kasuri

Former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri has warned that the terrorist attacks that killed Chinese nationals clearly showed that there are hostile forces seeking to disrupt the collaboration between China and Pakistan emphasizing that only by promoting greater coordination in counter-terrorism efforts between the two countries can such forces be restrained from succeeding in the future. Kasuri made these remarks in Beijing while leading a delegation from the Understanding China Forum, a Pakistanbased think tank, on a visit to China. “The terrorist attack killing Chinese obviously means that there are forces who do not wish Pakistan and China to work together,” Kasuri said in response to a question raised by Global Times reporter during a press conference. His remarks followed a suicide bombing in late March that claimed the lives of five Chinese engineers and a local driver working on the Dasu hydropower project in Pakistan. Some Chinese experts believed that this incident was a copy of the July 2021 Dasu terror attack, in which nine Chinese nationals and four Pakistani people were killed. Kasuri noted that the security situation in Pakistan has deteriorated in recent years, and unfortunately, there are third countries that find it very useful to use those (anti state) elements within Pakistan to disrupt the bilateral relation between Pakistan and China. “They are hostile to Pakistan, to China, and are not happy with China-pakistan cooperation,” Kasuri said. “Therefore, it’s logical that Pakistan and China should pull their resources to defeat such forces, and that can happen by greater intelligence cooperation, as well as by all other means that are required, which is in line with the interests of Pakistan and China, and our bilateral relations,” the former foreign minister said. In response to the latest terrorist attack, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said during a regular press conference on March 27 that China and Pakistan have the resolve and capability to make the terrorists pay the price. “No attempt to sabotage China-pakistan cooperation will ever succeed,” Lin said. Kasuri expressed his appreciation for the remarks made by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, adding that it also underlines the fact that Pakistan and China should not allow such hostile forces to succeed in future, and that can only happen with much greater coordination between the two countries. “If we were to improve our coordination, then we’ll be able to take care. Otherwise, these forces will not give up,” Kasuri told the Global Times, noting that the issue of counter-terrorism cooperation will be among the prominent topics in future high-level exchanges between the two countries.