Alerts Chinese national against security risks in Pakistan
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China has again asked Pakistan to beef up security for Chinese nationals and institutions in the country and demanded a thorough investigation and punishment to the perpetrators behind the suicide attack at the Karachi University. A van of the Confucius Institute at the University of Karachi was hit by an explosion triggered by a burqa-clad Baloch woman suicide bomber on Tuesday, leaving three Chinese teachers dead and one injured and causing casualties among Pakistani citizens, in the latest targeted attack against Chinese citizens in Pakistan’s financial capital.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a daily news conference on Wednesday, the attack was “premeditated and aimed at Chinese citizens”, describing the attack as “extremely abominable and outrageous” and expressing China’s “strong condemnation and indignation”. He also asked Chinese citizens in Pakistan to closely follow the local security situation and guard against security risks. A concerned China also said that it will work with Pakistan to hunt down the terrorists responsible for the Karachi bomb attack.
The banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) linked Majeed Brigade has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place near China-built Confucius Institute, a non-profit institute teaching Chinese language to local pupils in Karachi University. The group opposes Chinese investment in Pakistan, especially in the restive Balochistan, saying local people do not benefit. This is not the first-time Chinese nationals have been the target of terror attacks in Karachi, which is Pakistan’s biggest city and economic hub.
In July last year, masked armed men on a motorcycle opened fire on a vehicle carrying two Chinese nationals in Karachi in which one of them was critically wounded. In the same month, nearly a dozen Chinese engineers were killed when a bus carrying construction workers was “attacked” in northwest Pakistan.
In November 2018, Baloch militants had attacked the Chinese consulate in Karachi but failed to break through the security barrier with three of them killed on the spot. Balochistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, is home to a long-running violent insurgency. Baloch insurgent groups have previously carried out several attacks targeting the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.