China Premier Li Qiang, left, and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attend a welcome ceremony, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (Press Information Department via AP)
ISLAMABAD — Shaken by multiple militant attacks, Pakistani authorities have locked down the capital in a major security move as senior officials from several nations arrive for an Asian security group meeting.
A three-day holiday started Monday in normally bustling Islamabad and the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi. The government deployed troops and blocked key roads, making it difficult even for ambulances to pass through. Some doctors asked police to remove barricades so they could go to hospitals but were instead asked to take longer routes.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Tuesday with leaders and officials attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting.
The main event of the meeting is on Wednesday, when leaders and officials discuss how to boost security cooperation and economic ties. The group was founded in 2001 by China and Russia to counter Western alliances. Other members include Iran, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Militants in recent weeks have killed dozens of people in multiple attacks in restive northwestern and southwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. Security experts say militants have limited capacity to strike in Islamabad.
Pakistan often blames the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, who have sanctuaries in neighboring Afghanistan, for the violence. Afghanistan’s Taliban government says it does not allow anyone to use its soil for attacks against any country.
Two Chinese engineers were killed on Oct. 6 in a suicide bombing outside the airport in Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province. A separatist group claimed responsibility for the attack.
In the past, Pakistanis used to line up along the main roads to welcome any dignitaries visiting the country, but authorities said they had to take harsh security measures this time because of fears of militant attacks. Only state media are allowed to cover the meetings.
Among those attending are Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref and the prime ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Mongolia.
Although an Indian top diplomat is visiting the country for the first time in almost a decade, he is not expected to hold separate bilateral meetings with Pakistani officials, as both sides have not sought any such meeting, authorities said.
The two South Asian neighbors have a history of bitter relations, and former Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also did not hold any bilateral meetings with Indian officials when he visited New Delhi last year to attend an SCO summit.
Syed Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad-based independent security analyst, said the SCO meeting is taking place at a time when tensions are high between the Western bloc led by United States and Russia and China. He said although India sent its top diplomat to the SCO meeting, the “prospects of improving ties between Pakistan and India because of the presence of the Indian foreign minister here are remote, as the two sides don’t discuss bilateral issues on the sidelines of such gatherings.”
Chinese Premier Li met with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday, according to a government statement. It said they reaffirmed their commitment to deepening cooperation in areas such as the economy, investment and regional connectivity, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a Chinese infrastructure project under construction in Pakistan.
Zardari offered his condolences over the killing of the two Chinese engineers. He said the enemies of Pakistan-China friendship were trying to undermine bilateral relations by targeting Chinese citizens and attempting to disrupt CPEC projects, the statement said.
