ISLAMABAD: The incident of a blast on a bus in Pakistan killing 13 people including two Pakistani soldiers and 9 Chinese nationals on 14 July 2021 has led to war of words between Pakistan and China.
Pakistani officials have been making efforts to cover up the incident as an accident pointing the fact that this was not a terror attack but a result of the bus falling into a ravine due to a technical fault.
They have also tried to produce pictures indicating flaws in the mechanical system of the bus which led to the bus going down the ravine.
Even technical report was produced by them to portray the incident as result of a mechanical flaw, according to reports.
However, Chinese officials denied this claim with the Chinese Embassy insisting that the incident was a suicide attack.
According to the Chinese officials, the attacker fired several shots on the bus and used hand grenades before detonating himself.
Meanwhile, Pak has been trying to give the impression that the incident had nothing to do with the overall security situation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa area.
The Chinese Embassy in Pakistan confirmed death of 9 nationals in an explosion in the bomb attack stating that “Chinese engineers and Pakistan’s construction workers have for several years been working on hydroelectric projects as part of the BRI in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where the blast occurred, and the matter was of serious concern to the Chinese”.
The Chinese have also expressed fear of more attacks on CPEC projects in future, according to reports.
They also fear kidnapping of workers of Chinese owned cellular operator Zong in Pakistan. Zong officials have received threats from time to time.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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