Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is personally supervising issues related to the security of Chinese citizens working in Pakistan, Interior Minister Rana Sana Ullah Khan told a top Chinese official on Wednesday, as Beijing pressed Islamabad to expedite the probe into the suicide attack at the Karachi University that killed three Chinese language teachers.
Khan gave this assurance to the Counsellor of the Department of External Security Affairs of China Wang Daxue when he called on him in Islamabad, the official APP news agency reported.
Three Chinese language teachers and their Pakistani driver were killed in a suspected suicide bombing in the southern city of Karachi on April 26. The powerful blast ripped through their minibus, injuring at least four others near the university's Confucius Institute.
The separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) said it attacked the vehicle carrying the Chinese staff, and that the suicide bomber had been a woman.
During the meeting, the two sides discussed ways to ensure security of Chinese nationals in Pakistan, the report said.
Prime Minister Sharif was personally monitoring the security of Chinese citizens, the interior minister told Wang.
The meeting took place a day after Prime Minister Sharif held a telephonic talk with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and discussed tightening of security for Chinese nationals working in Pakistan.
He said a Foreign National Security Desk had been set up at the Interior Ministry to provide effective liaison to ensure the security of foreigners in Pakistan, especially Chinese nationals.
He also said culprits involved in Karachi University would be given exemplary punishment.
The two sides expressed their resolve that Pakistan-China relations would not be affected by Karachi like incidents. Both the sides agreed to make liaison more effective between Interior Ministry and Chinese Embassy to ensure security.
The Pakistani Interior minister expressed sorrow and grief over the loss of lives of Chinese nationals in Karachi University terror incident.
Wang said the two countries would foil all conspiracies of miscreants to spoil Pak-China relations.
He expressed the hope that the investigation into the Karachi University terror incident would be completed soon and the culprits would be taken to task, the report said.
The Chinese leadership attached great importance to Pak-China relations, Wang said.
The Pakistani minister said that foolproof security arrangements had been made for Chinese nationals working on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects in the country.
The banned separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) opposes Chinese investment in Pakistan, saying the local people do not benefit from these projects.
The group has targeted Chinese nationals working on CPEC projects on a number of occasions.
China is heavily involved in large infrastructure projects across Pakistan, including in resource-rich Balochistan province.
The USD 60 billion CPEC, is a network of roads, railway and pipelines between the two countries which forms part of Beijing's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.
During the meeting, Wang assured Khan that said China will continue financial and technical cooperation in ongoing development projects with Pakistan, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.