Deadly terror attack shows Pakistan still has much work to do

Schools are among the softest targets a terrorist could choose. The killing by a suicide bomber of four people, three of them Chinese working for the University of Karachi’s Confucius Institute in Pakistan’s biggest city, is therefore the most cowardly of acts. Beijing has called for a thorough investigation and harsh punishment for those behind the attack, while asking Islamabad to take measures to prevent similar incidents. But the tragedy is just the latest of a string in recent years and with efforts to protect foreigners not always ironclad, ways have to be found to improve intelligence and security.

Police claim a woman in head-to-toe clothing had approached the van in which the victims were travelling and set off a bomb. Those killed were the director of the institute, a lecturer and a volunteer and the Pakistani driver, while another Chinese teacher standing nearby was injured. The Pakistani separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), recognised as a terrorist organisation by a number of countries, claimed responsibility. It began an insurgency in the western province of Balochistan in 2005 and has been among extremists trying to derail relations between China and Pakistan.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who took office two weeks ago, pledged those behind the attack would be brought to justice. He has good reason to make such a promise; Pakistan and China have the closest of relations and the country is an integral part of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, which was launched in 2015 with the US$60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. That closeness has been a lightning rod for extremists, though, Chinese companies and nationals being targets of attacks. The BLA claimed a strike on the Chinese consulate in Karachi in 2018 and a suicide bombing on a motorcade of workers near the port of Gwadar in August last year that injured a Chinese man and killed three Pakistani children.

The previous month, 13 people, nine of them Chinese, were killed in a bomb attack on a bus carrying workers to the Dasu Dam in the country’s northwest. Pakistani officials initially said the deaths were the result of an accident, but after calls by Beijing for a thorough investigation, it was labelled as terrorism. There has never been a claim of responsibility, although the Pakistani Taliban is suspected. Protection of Chinese projects, companies and nationals has since been substantially stepped up, with an estimated 15,000 security personnel deployed. But as the latest deaths show, there can too easily be lapses; it occurred near a canteen for paramilitary guards assigned to the institute. Pakistan has to strengthen intelligence and security to improve the safety of Chinese institutions, projects and people. When necessary, it should seek Beijing’s help.