China demands probe into deadly blast
China has demanded a thorough investigation into the van explosion in Karachi that left three of its nationals dead and vowed their blood would not be shed in vain.
The separatist Balochistan Liberation Army’s (BLA) suicide squad, the Majeed Brigade, claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack, which killed the director of the University of Karachi’s Confucius Institute, as well as a lecturer and a volunteer. The Pakistani driver also died, while a Chinese teacher was injured.
In a statement yesterday, the Chinese foreign ministry strongly condemned the attack and vowed to crack down on terror groups. “The mastermind behind this incident will surely pay the price,” it said. According to the statement, assistant foreign minister Wu Jianghao called Pakistan’s envoy to China, Moin ul Haque, to express his serious concerns and demand the arrest of the suspects.
The ministry said that, along with its embassies and consulates, it would continue to urge the relevant departments in Pakistan to properly follow up and treat the injured “and resolutely crack down on terrorist organisations involved in this case”.
Pakistani police said the attack was carried out by a woman identified as Shari Baloch – the first female suicide bomber since an insurgency broke out in western Balochistan province in 2005.
The BLA is listed as a terrorist organisation by Pakistan, Britain and the United States, because of its targeting of civilians, journalists, government officials and military personnel.
The BLA advocates MarxismLeninism and aims to establish an independent state in the Balochistan region in the border lands between Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan.
The group has been responsible for several attacks on Chinese nationals working in Pakistan, mostly in Balochistan province, where the Gwadar port and other large-scale China-backed infrastructure projects are located.
Despite promises from the Chinese and Pakistani governments of a boost to economic development from the projects, there has been resentment from some local people who have not seen the benefits.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has promised his government will do more to promote the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – worth an estimated US$60 billion.
In July last year, a BLA suicide bombing of a bus killed 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals involved in a hydropower project at Dasu in the Gwadar area of southwest Pakistan.
The attack – which Beijing called the biggest in recent years to target Chinese workers on its overseas investment – prompted China to send a team of criminal investigation specialists to work with their Pakistan counterparts.
Just a few weeks after the July bus blast, another suicide bombing killed a Chinese engineer and two Pakistani children in Gwadar region.
Mustafa Hyder Sayed, an expert on relations between Beijing and Islamabad, said work on Belt and Road Initiative projects in Pakistan would not be “business as usual any more because this is an inflection point”.
“I would not be surprised if future CPEC projects and the next prospective long-term plan-listed projects are now linked with on-the-ground action by Pakistan to provide ‘foolproof’ security to Chinese targets because investor confidence will be strongly shaken by this.”
Sayed, executive director of the Islamabad-based think tank Pakistan-China Institute, said the pattern of attacks against Chinese targets in Pakistan over the past year and a half “showcases” that Islamabad’s “will to secure and provide foolproof security has not materialised or become a reality, unfortunately”.
Since Tuesday’s attack, it has emerged that Pakistan’s intelligence agencies had issued a security alert warning of a terrorist attack on Chinese nationals working at the Confucius Institute in Karachi University.
Sayed said he expected Sharif to quickly institute blanket security measures across the country for Chinese nationals, including armed police and soldiers to protect them at their homes and workplaces, as well as police escorts on the roads.
“I think that such practical measures may be taken by the prime minister for the CPEC projects and Chinese citizens where there’s a security blanket that is well coordinated – and not operating in silos – between the provincial and federal governments and the security agencies,” he said.
The mastermind behind this incident will surely pay the price.
A STATEMENT BY THE CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY