Chinese workers fearful after killings in Pakistan

Aamir Ashraf:

Chinese workers in Pakistan were being asked on Thursday to decide whether to stay or go home after the slaying of three countrymen in a drive-by shooting a day earlier, a Chinese diplomat said.

China's President Hu Jintao earlier urged Pakistan to track down the gunmen and ensure the safety of an estimated 1,000 Chinese workers in the country.

"Informed about the murder Wednesday evening, Hu Jintao ordered (the) Chinese Foreign Ministry, embassy and consulates to require Pakistan to catch the murderers, ensure the safety of the Chinese there and properly handle the aftermath," China's Xinhua news agency said.

The attack on the Chinese engineers working for a cement firm in the southern town of Hub, outside Karachi, came days ahead of a planned visit to China by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday.

A spokesman for the Baluch Liberation Army claimed responsibility, warning against outsiders seeking to exploit the southwestern province of Baluchistan's mineral resources.

The Chinese embassy has called for a meeting within a day or two to review the security situation, a Karachi-based Chinese diplomat told Reuters.

"Chinese nationals, working in various projects in Pakistan, are very frightened," said a senior Chinese diplomat in Karachi.

"We have asked all the Chinese nationals working in Pakistan to discuss security situation with their respective managements," he said.

"Whatever decision the individuals take would be acceptable to us. Some of them may want to go back while some may want to stay, it's up to them to decide and we will respect that."

Babar Bashir Nawaz, chief executive of Attock Cement Pakistan, said the 11 surviving Chinese contract workers had been moved from Hub and he expected them to go home, at least for the near term.

The president and other representatives of the deceased workers company, Hefei Cement Research, were due to arrive in Pakistan this evening to discuss whether Chinese would continue working in Hub.

Two of the workers were killed on the spot and third died later from his wounds.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce named the three as Long Hongbao, Wei Jianpin and Zhao Bin, who were helping to build a cement factory, Xinhua added.

The bodies were taken to Karachi on Thursday and would be flown back to China by chartered plane in a few days, it said.

Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz offered condolences to the men's families and condemned the killings as an act of terrorism, the Associated Press of Pakistan said.

A foreign ministry statement quoted spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam as saying that the killings were aimed at driving a wedge between Pakistan and China. Security for Chinese workers in Pakistan would be increased, she said.

China is a traditional ally of Pakistan, one of Islamabad's main suppliers of arms, and has also provided hundreds of millions of dollars in development finance.

Separatists and tribal militants are fighting the Pakistan army in Baluchistan, a sparsely populated but mineral-rich region, which is the main source of gas for the country.

Chinese workers have been targeted in the past, as Chinese firms are heavily involved in infrastructure projects in the province.

A bomb in the Baluch port of Gwadar killed three Chinese engineers and wounded nine in May 2004.

In October 2004, two Chinese workers were kidnapped in South Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, and one was later killed when security forces mounted a rescue.

The kidnapping was blamed on al Qaeda linked militants rather than Baluch rebels.

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