A former Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan today blamed foreign powers for the 2004 attack on Chinese engineers in Pakistan's Balochistan, where China has taken over the strategic Gwadar Port.
"The terrorist attack on Chinese personnel involved in the Gwadar project (when) I was the ambassador. There (was) influence from foreign countries. People (in Pakistan) are friendly and close to Chinese people...Why the attack?...Some people were bought by some foreign countries," Zhang Chunxiang told a media briefing here, that he was addressing on China's relations with South Asia.
"Those perpetrators were actually paid by some countries to commit the crime. It is difficult to investigate. There are some countries behind (the attack). I do not want to name them on this occasion. You know it, I know it. Everybody knows it," he said, without naming any country.
He added that some religious sects were also involved in the attack in which three Chinese engineers were killed in a car bomb explosion in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan Province in 2004.
Their nine other compatriots besides two Pakistanis were also injured.
The Chinese were working on a seaport project in Gawadar.
