Senator Mushahid Hussain, chairman of the Pakistan Senate Defence Committee, stated that China's confidence in Islamabad was shaken after the Karachi suicide bombing incident. “It has caused serious concern and understandable indignation in China. More so, the pattern of attacks is so recurring and it is clear that Pakistani promises of ‘foolproof security’ are mere words, not matched by countermeasures on the ground,” he said in an interview to Dawn. “If such attacks continue, not just Chinese but other foreign investors will be forced to review their role in Pakistan,” he said
An explosion triggered by a burqa-clad woman suicide bomber from the Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA) ripped through a van of the Confucius Institute at the prestigious University of Karachi on April 26. This was the latest targeted attack against Chinese citizens in Pakistan.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he would review security arrangements for the Chinese nationals working in the country. In view of potential threats being faced by the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and other joint ventures between the two countries, the prime minister would assess all the mechanisms earlier devised for ensuring the security of the Chinese nationals and the new plan being made by the planning and interior ministries.
Earlier in July 2021, a bus carrying Chinese workers in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had come under attack leaving 10 Chinese nationals dead and 28 others injured. China, the key investor in Pakistan, has demanded that Islamabad should take action against those involved in them. Thousands of Chinese personnel are working in Pakistan on a host of projects being carried out under the aegis of the CPEC.
