Beijing is pushing Pakistan to allow its own security staff to provide protection to thousands of Chinese citizens working in the South Asian nation, during talks after a car bombing in Karachi that was seen as a major security breach, sources said.
Last month’s airport bombing in the southern port city that killed two Chinese engineers returning to work on a project after a holiday in Thailand was the latest in a string of attacks on Beijing’s interests in Pakistan. The attacks, and Islamabad’s failure to deter them, have angered China, which has pushed Pakistan to begin formal negotiations for a joint security management system.
Reuters spoke to five Pakistani security and govt sources with direct knowledge of the previously unreported negotiations, and reviewed a written proposal sent by Beijing to Islamabad. “They (Chinese) want to bring in their own security,” said one official, who sat in on a recent meeting, adding that Pa kistan had not so far agreed to such a step.
A written proposal sent to Islamabad by Beijing, and forwarded to Pakistani security agencies for review, mentioned a clause allowing the dispatching of security agencies and military forces into each others’ territory to assist in counter-terrorism missions and conduct joint strikes. The dispatching would be done after discussions, but Pakistani agencies were averse to the proposal, one official said.
Neither Beijing nor Islama bad confirmed the talks officially. The source, and two other officials, said there was a consensus on setting up a joint security management system, and that Pakistan was amenable to Chinese officials sitting in on security meetings and co-ordination. But there was no agreement on their participating in security arrangements on the ground. The first official said Pakistan had asked China for help in improving its intelligence and surveillance capabilities instead of direct involvement.
The nature of the Karachi bombing has angered Beijing: A pick-up truck rigged with nearly 100 kg of explosives waited unchecked for 40 minutes near the outermost security cordon of the heavily guarded airport before its driver rammed it into the vehicle carrying Chinese engineers, officials said. “It was agrave security breach,” admitted one of the officials investigating the blast. Investigators believe the attackers had “inside help” in securing details of the itinerary and route.
