China’s Prime Minister Li Keqiang reiterated his government’s call for punishment for those responsible for the attack on Chinese instructors at Karachi University on Monday, as well as increased protection for Chinese institutions and individuals in Pakistan.
According to the Chinese foreign ministry, Li Keqiang was speaking to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who had “asked” the phone call.
According to the DAWN, this was PM Sharif’s first call with his Chinese counterpart since taking office last month.
“China hopes that the Pakistani side will bring the perpetrators to justice as soon as possible, make every effort to deal with the casualties’ follow-up issues, console the bereaved families and the injured, and comprehensively strengthen security measures for Chinese institutions and personnel in Pakistan to ensure that similar tragedies do not reoccur,” Mr Li told Prime Minister Sharif.
He stated that China was “shocked and appalled” by the April 26 Karachi incident, which killed four people, including three Chinese instructors.
It should be noted that shortly after the attack, China’s foreign ministry demanded Pakistan to harshly punish the offenders, safeguard Chinese citizens, and prevent similar situations from occurring in the future.
PM Sharif assured Premier Li that Pakistan will do everything possible to investigate the incident, apprehend the culprits, and punish them to the full extent of the law. He also committed to beef up security for all Chinese institutions and employees in Pakistan to prevent such assaults.
Following the Karachi assault, Beijing has withdrawn Chinese professors from the Confucius Institutes in Pakistan. In Pakistan, there are five Confucius Institutes and two Confucius Classrooms that seek to promote Chinese language and culture. At these centers, around 30,000 students study Chinese. The Karachi incident has heightened China’s security fears.
China is concerned that the Sindh government is taking too long to conduct investigations. On May 11, Foreign Minister Wang Yi allegedly discussed the issue with his Pakistani counterpart, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, whose party governs Sindh.