Pak PM Imran Khan says terror won’t scare Chinese investors
23 Nov 2018
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Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan said today’s assault on China’s diplomatic mission in Karachi was a reaction to the unprecedented trade deals signed between the two nations earlier this month.
"The failed attack against the Chinese Consulate was clearly a reaction to the unprecedented trade agreements that resulted from our trip to China,” Khan said on Twitter. "The attack was intended to scare Chinese investors — these terrorists will not succeed."
Three suicide attackers stormed the Chinese consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi amid a series of gunshots and an explosion on Friday, but were killed before they could get into the building in a car packed with explosives, police said.
At least two police officers were killed in the attack, which was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist insurgent group that opposes Chinese projects in the resource-rich southwestern province of Baluchistan.
All Chinese staff at the consulate were safe, Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and China’s foreign ministry said.
Four gunmen tried to enter the consulate but were stopped by security guards at a checkpoint, reports quoted police officials as saying.
An exchange of fire resulted in the death of two constables and critically wounding another.
The attackers escaped, but security forces have cordoned off the area and were conducting a clearing operation.
Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and a financial hub, was for years rife with political, sectarian and ethnic militancy.
Imran Khan has ordered an inquiry into the attack on China's consulate. "The Prime Minister has ordered a complete inquiry into the incident and has desired that elements behind this incident must be unearthed," Khan's office said in a statement, adding that the attack was part of a conspiracy aimed at undermining economic and strategic cooperation between the two nations.
"Such incidents will never be able to undermine Pak-China relationship," the statement added.
China is Pakistan's closest ally, ploughing billions of dollars in loans and infrastructure investments into the South Asian nation as part of Beijing's vast Belt and Road initiative.
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