By IANS,
New Delhi : China Daily, widely seen as the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, has confirmed the recent visit of the ISI chief to Beijing, but has refused to back India’s stand on terror camps inside Pakistan which it blamed for a militant attack in Xinjiang province.
China had blamed separatists trained in Pakistan for an attack which killed six civilians in the restive Xinjiang province nearly a fortnight ago. This came as a surprise to many who saw it as a sign of Beijing’s rift with its all-weather ally Islamabad over the issue of terrorism.
“After Kashghar attacks, some media reports interpreted the local authorities’ statement as a sign of China finally joining the chorus of Pakistan’s two other neighbours, India and Afghanistan, that Islamabad has failed to demolish militants’ camps on its side,” said an article in China Daily, the English language newspaper that is seen as the mouthpiece of China’s ruling Communist Party.
“But such accusations are not conducive to rooting out terrorism from the region. After all, like the US, India and China, Pakistan is also a victim of terrorism and Pakistan government has shown its determination to fight terrorism,” it said.
The article, authored by Han Hua, associate professor of international studies at the Beijing University, said that it was “unusual” for China to blame Pakistan for what happened in Xinjiang, but rejected reports of a rift between China and Pakistan.
“Though it was unusual for China to say that the Kashghar rioters had received training in Pakistan based ETIM camps and terrorist activities in Xinjiang are cause of concern, only the short-sighted would prophesy a rift between Beijing and Islamabad and overlook the solidity of Sino-Pakistan partnership,” it said.
The article also discussed the clandestine visit of the chief of Pakistan’s spy agency ISI, Lt. Gen. Shuja Pasha, to Beijing to discuss the issue of Uygur extremists who allegedly received training in Pakistan.
“And the Chief of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (Gen. Shuja Pasha) visited Beijing recently, during which he must have discussed the anti-terrorism and anti-separatism issues with Chinese officials,” it said.