ISLAMABAD(National Times): Former Interior Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shehryar Khan Afridi on Sunday called on Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) of Chinese Embassy, Mr Shi Yuanqiang, and conveyed commiserations over the loss of precious lives in recent terrorist attack on Chinese engineers on his own behalf and also conveyed a message of sympathy of the party chief and former prime minister Imran Khan.
Mr Yang Nuo, Minister Counsellor, Chinese Embassy, was also present on the occasion.
Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM), Mr Shi Yuanqiang, expressed gratitude to the PTI chief Imran Khan and party leader for visiting the Embassy and offering condolences with the victim families and the people of China and Pakistan.
He said that China highly values the efforts of Pakistani government and its people in providing support and protection to the Chinese workers and companies. The Chinese side urged the Pakistani side to conduct speedy and thorough investigations into the attack and severely punish the perpetrators and take all necessary measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens, institutions and projects in Pakistan.
He said that China and Pakistan are iron-friends and the terrorist attacks would only strengthen the resolve of China and Pakistan to deepen their friendly cooperation and promote balanced and sustainable development of Pakistan.
During the meeting, Mr Afridi said that China and Pakistan enjoy an iron-brothers and this bond would further cement by each passing day. He said that neither terrorism nor conspiracies can dent the trust and brotherhood between China and Pakistan and rather these acts only strengthen the resolve of the people and governments of both countries to fight the menace of terrorism.
Shehryar Khan Afridi said that poverty is a major issue and especially people in Pakistan, Afghanistan bordering areas are left behind the developed areas. Due to the rampant poverty and lack of infrastructure and employment opportunities in bordering areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, he said the terrorists mislead public and manage to attack Pakistani security forces and Chinese installations.
He said that the terrorists also attacked the Chinese engineers in Besham despite the fact that the Chinese engineers have sacrificed everything and came to Pakistan to help build infrastructure and dams for the uplift of Pakistani people.
Shehryar Afridi urged China and Pakistani governments to focus development of infrastructure in Pak, Afghan bordering areas and to educate and employ youth as education and employment can help fight the menace of terrorism in far-flung and under-developed tribal areas.
Afridi also called for cementing bonds between the lawmakers of Pakistan, Afghanistan and China, saying that a Trilateral Parliamentary Committee may be formed so that the elected representatives of three countries may work together to help spread awareness among public and also make the counterterrorism efforts effective.
Afridi prayed for the departed souls and expressed sympathy with the victim families and also registered his condolences at the condolence book kept at the Embassy.
