KU blast: Pakistani top leadership show solidarity with China: foreign ministry

BEIJING: Pakistani top leadership’s show of solidarity with China over killing of Chinese citizens in Karachi once again demonstrated that all weather strategic cooperative partnership between China and Pakistan is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and any attempt to undermine mutual trust and cooperation is doomed to fail, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Zhao Lijian said on Thursday.

Addressing a regular briefing held here, he said, after attack of the Confucius Institute at the University of Karachi, President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Speaker of the National Assembly, Raja Pevaiz Ashraf, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Tehreek Insaf leader Imran Khan and other lawmakers of the Senate of Pakistan and National Assembly visited the Chinese embassy to pay their condolences. Different social sectors in Pakistan also expressed their condemnation and condolences.

“This once again shows that the all weather strategic cooperative partnership between China and Pakistan is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and that the attempt of terrorist forces to undermine China-Pakistan mutual trust and cooperation is doomed to fail,” he said in response to a question raised by APP.

“We are ready to work with Pakistan to ensure the smooth operation of our cooperation in a safe manner and prevent such incidents from happening again,” he added. On April 26, three Chinese teachers of Confucius Institute at Karachi University and their driver were killed when their shuttle van was hit by in a suicide attack. Soon after the incident, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Chinese embassy in Islamabad and met with China’s acting ambassador, Pang Chunxue to convey his condolences. He instructed the relevant authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident and assured that the government would spare no efforts to apprehend the perpetrators and hold them accountable.