China on Friday joined Pakistan’s investigation into a suicide car bombing that killed five Chinese citizens. That attack led to the suspension of billions of dollars of Chinese investment in hydropower projects.
Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s office said he met with “a special investigation team from China” at Beijing’s embassy in Islamabad and briefed them on “the investigation to date” into Tuesday’s deadly attack Condition”.
During the meeting, they also discussed efforts to enhance the security of Chinese citizens in Pakistan, the statement said.
The deadly violence occurred when a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a convoy of Chinese engineers working on the 4,320-megawatt Dasu hydropower project in northwest Pakistan.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which also killed the Pakistani driver of the slain foreigner.
“The perpetrators of the attack will be held accountable and brought to justice,” Naqvi assured Chinese investigators and diplomats.
“Eliminate security risks”
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman told a news conference in Beijing on Friday that the head of its “inter-agency” team made contact with senior Pakistani officials immediately upon arrival.
He asked Pakistan to quickly and thoroughly investigate the attack, properly handle the follow-up matters, effectively strengthen security work, completely eliminate security risks, and do everything possible to ensure the maximum safety of Chinese personnel, institutions and projects. in Pakistan. “Lin Jian said.
Pakistan stated that the investigation and handling of subsequent incidents are in full swing and that all possible measures are being taken to strengthen the safety and security of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions. ”
China has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure projects in Pakistan, including a road network, power plants and a deep-water port on the Arabian Sea in the Gwadar district of southwestern Balochistan province.
The bilateral cooperation, worth an estimated $62 billion, is known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and is an extension of Beijing’s global Belt and Road infrastructure plan.
Chinese and Pakistani officials confirmed on Friday that construction on the Dasu project had been temporarily suspended but had not stopped following Tuesday’s attack. They said work on all other China-funded projects, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, was still ongoing.
In mid-2021, a suicide car bombing struck a convoy of Chinese engineers working on the South Asian country’s largest hydropower project, killing nine Chinese citizens and three local colleagues. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Pakistan has recently experienced a sharp increase in insurgent attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians and security forces, particularly in Balochistan and the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where Dasu is located.
In the past week, separatist rebels have attacked a government building in Gwadar and a key naval air base in nearby Turbat. The ensuing gunbattle left about a dozen attackers dead and several Pakistani security personnel dead.
Both attacks were carried out by the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which the United States has designated as a global terrorist organization.
Balochistan is at the heart of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor investments, and the Balochistan Liberation Army and its allied rebel groups have defended their violence, claiming that Pakistan and China are stripping Balochistan of its natural resources, something both countries deny. this accusation.
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