Pakistan should do more to combat terrorism

A terrorist attack in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi on Sunday killed several people, including two Chinese nationals, and left dozens of people, including a Chinese national, injured. The terrorists attacked a convoy of vehicles from the Port Qasim Electric Power Company near Jinnah International Airport in Karachi around 11:00 pm on Sunday.

The banned Balochistan Liberation Army issued a statement through social media, claiming responsibility for the attack, but the Pakistani authorities have not confirmed it.

This is the second time in seven months that Chinese nationals have been killed in terrorist attacks in Pakistan. On March 26, five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver were killed in a suicide terror attack at the China-invested Dasu hydropower project in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Although the Pakistani authorities announced in May that they had arrested 11 Islamist militants said to have been involved in the suicide bombing in March, the Sunday attack should prompt them to do more to improve the security situation in the country.

The latest attack happened less than five months after Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar's visit to Beijing during which the Pakistani side pledged to hunt down the perpetrators of the March attack and bring them to justice, and better protect Chinese nationals, projects and institutions in Pakistan.

But Pakistan's counterterrorism measures have not been able to prevent terrorist attacks, with terrorist outfits continuing to threaten the projects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a key part of the Belt and Road Initiative. The CPEC projects are of strategic significance and will help Pakistan boost its economic growth, improve Pakistani people's livelihoods and promote green development.

As such, China and Pakistan should further strengthen counterterrorism and security cooperation. Schadenfreude is what anti-China forces feel when terrorists attack CPEC projects in Pakistan.

China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners, and their "ironclad" friendship has stood the test of time. In a volatile and fast-changing world, a sound and stable China-Pakistan relationship is very important to maintain regional peace and promote prosperity. So the two sides have every reason to remain committed to advancing their all-round practical cooperation through joint projects while ensuring the security of those projects and the people working on them.