China to work with Pakistan to protect Chinese personnel following Karachi airport attack

China said on Thursday it would work with Pakistan to protect the safety and security of Chinese personnel, projects, and institutions in Pakistan, following the killing of two Chinese engineers claimed by a separatist militant group on Sunday.

The attack near the airport in Pakistan's port city of Karachi was claimed by the banned separatist outfit Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), raising concerns over the security of Chinese nationals in the South Asian nation.

Confirming the death toll, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said, "This deplorable act of terrorism is an attack not only on Pakistan but also on the enduring friendship between Pakistan and China. We remain resolute in bringing to justice those responsible for this cowardly attack, including the Majeed Brigade."

A member of the Airport Security Force ASF stands guard near the wreckage of vehicles after an explosion near Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan October 6, 2024. Reuters

The brigade is a cell of the BLA that claimed the attack shortly after it was reported.

A total of 10 injured individuals were brought to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC), a major public hospital in the city, Dawn reported quoting a police surgeon.

Mao Ning, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, said she was not aware of reports that Pakistani authorities are seeking to curb the movements of Chinese citizens during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) conference next week because of a security risk from militant groups targeting them.

Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb had said that the Chinese nationals who lost their lives in the attack were in talks with senior government ministers regarding the renegotiation of terms for Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

However, a day later, the Ministry of Finance and Revenue “clarified” that the Chinese engineers were not involved in IPP talks. “Hence, any impression created to this effect by media reports is misleading and has no basis,” the Finance Division said in a statement.

The statement said the government has been negotiating with theIPPs, including the power plant for which both the Chinese engineers worked. “However, the deceased engineers were not involved in the IPP talks.”

Monumental failure

Speaking to Nukta, Senator Mushahid Hussain, who formerly headed the Senate's foreign and defence committees, said that the recent attack on Chinese nationals in Pakistan, who were part of an official delegation, is a monumental failure of Pakistan’s security system, which has repeatedly and abysmally failed to fulfill its promise of providing “foolproof security” to Chinese citizens in the country.

In the past five years, he said, seven attacks have claimed the lives of 19 Chinese and 13 Pakistanis. “This attack was particularly significant due to its timing and location: just before the impending visit of the Chinese Prime Minister to Pakistan, and not in the borderlands of Balochistan or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but in the heart of urban Pakistan, near Karachi airport,” he added.

“It was clearly a serious breach of security, as the terrorists had precise intelligence on when the Chinese guests were arriving, their exact route, and their destination.”

After an explosion near Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, on October 6, 2024. Reuters

Mushahid said that the incident has shaken Chinese confidence in the Pakistani system, which has neither the credibility nor the demonstrated capability to protect Chinese citizens.

“An extraordinary, out-of-the-box mechanism will need to be established to ensure the continued flow of Chinese investment, including a joint Pakistani-Chinese intelligence and counterterrorism partnership, as the current Pakistani system has failed to deliver,” he concluded.

‘Do more’

An opinion piece published in China Daily said: "The Sunday attack should prompt them (Pakistan) to do more to improve the security situation in the country.”

It recalled that the latest attack took place after Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar’s pledge to “hunt down the perpetrators of the March attack and bring them to justice, and better protect Chinese nationals, projects and institutions in Pakistan.”

Five Chinese nationals and their local driver were killed in the suicide attack in late March. The attack occurred on the main highway linking Pakistan to China.

CPEC threatened

However, the unusually strong tone of China Daily reflects growing concern that Pakistan’s current measures are insufficient. The opinion piece published in the daily declared that “Pakistan's counterterrorism measures have not been able to prevent terrorist attacks, with terrorist outfits continuing to threaten the projects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor!”

The China Pakistan Economic Corridor is part of Beijing's multi-billion-dollar ambitious Belt and Road Initiative which aims to connect Asia with Africa and Europe via land and sea routes.

Chinese media is state-owned and reflects the policy of the state.