On Tuesday, March 26, 5 Chinese citizens were killed in a suicide bombing attack in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan along with their Pakistani driver.
Mohammad Ali Gandapur, the regional police chief told the media that a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers that was on its way from Islamabad to their camp in Dasu, the biggest hydropower project in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan, where they worked.
Now, days after declaring its intent to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice, China has declared that they will ‘fight terrorism’ together with Pakistan, in a statement that reads like a sad joke to anyone who has followed geopolitics in the region.
“Terrorism is humanity’s common enemy. The global community has a shared responsibility to fight terrorism and stop such tragedies from happening again. China and Pakistan are determined and ready to make the terrorists pay for their horrific acts”, the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs declared.
Terrorism is humanity’s common enemy. The global community has a shared responsibility to fight terrorism and stop such tragedies from happening again. China and Pakistan are determined and ready to make the terrorists pay for their horrific act. pic.twitter.com/6S4QpJsxoY
— Spokesperson发言人办公室 (@MFA_China) March 27, 2024
Though the declared intentions seem very noble, the reality of the situation is very different. China expects to combat terrorism by collaborating with the world’s largest exporter of terrorism, a country where terrorists are not only allowed to flourish, they are allowed to carry out recruitment and training, and even given state patronage to run their terrorism industry like a business.
‘Pakistan is the world’s factory of terrorism, they run it like an industry’
Just this week, India’s EAM Dr S Jaishankar stated in Singapore that Pakistan uses terrorism as an instrument of statecraft. He highlighted, not for the first time, how Pakistan runs terrorism at an industry level.
Singapore: "They use terrorism as an instrument of statecraft… it's industry level, assembly line.."EAM Jaishankar on Pakistan's support for terror; Adds,'wont skirt the problem..In India mood not to overlook terrorism' pic.twitter.com/ixjUwCTMfd
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) March 23, 2024
Dr Jaishankar’s remarks are not something out of the blue. The whole world has known for decades that Pakistan is a hub for state-sponsored terrorism. It houses, sustains, and enables globally designated terrorists and brazens it out before the world, year after year.
Terrorist attacks in Pakistan are not due to some external threat, they are the symptoms of a vicious pet going rogue and eating its own master.
India has been the worst victim of Pakistan’s state-sponsored terrorism for decades. The Mumbai attack of 26/11, the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, the Pulwama bombing, and countless such instances of terror are all linked to Pakistan, and they have been there for the whole world to see.
How China blocks UN proposals to sanction Pakistani terrorists
In June 2023, China blocked a joint India-USA proposal to blacklist Pakistan-based LeT terrorist Sajid Mir and declare him a ‘global terrorist’ at the UNSC. The UN blacklisting would have resulted in world-wise asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. Mir is wanted by India for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
Again, it was not a singular development. China’s doublespeak against terrorism has been ongoing for decades. They use big words to condemn and criticise terror attacks, but when it comes to Pakistani terrorists, they pull all their muscles to block UN sanctions against them, shielding not just the terrorists, but brazenly ignoring Pakistan’s blatant role in sheltering and sponsoring them.
India had first brought a proposal designating JeM chief Masood Azhar as a ‘global terrorist’ by the UN back in 2009. China blocked it. Then in 2016 and 2017, for two consecutive years, India brought another proposal to impose global sanctions on Masood Azhar, with support from other UNSC members France, the UK and the USA. But China blocked them again.
Even after the ghastly terrorist attack in Pulwama in February 2019, China showed indifference to the matter, by refusing to label Azhar as a terrorist.
In 2019, India brought yet another proposal against Masood Azhar at the UNSC, this time with 25 countries backing it.
China finally had to give in. Masood Azhar was finally declared a ‘global terrorist’ 10 prolonged years after India’s first move, just because of China.
In 2021, at the UNSC, EAM Jaishankar had indirectly shamed China for its actions. “Summon the political will, don’t justify terrorism, don’t glorify terrorists. No double standards. Terrorists are terrorists, distinctions are made only at our own peril. Don’t place blocks and holds on listing requests without any reason,” he said.
In addition to Sajid Mir and Masood Azhar, other Pakistani terrorists that have been protected and blatantly shielded by China against UNSC sanctions are: LeT terrorists Abdul Rahman Makki, Shahid Mehmood, and JeM terrorist Abdul Rauf Asghar.
By claiming that it will ‘work with Pakistan’ to combat terrorism, China probably means that it will continue protecting Pakistani terrorists from UN sanctions.
