Last Updated: February 16, 2023, 23:50 IST
China has temporarily closed its consular office in its embassy in Pakistan (Image: Reuters/Representative)
The Chinese embassy announced on its website that it has temporarily closed down the consular section of its embassy in Pakistan due to “technical issues”
Pakistan on Thursday confirmed that China has temporarily closed down the consular section of its embassy in Islamabad due to a system upgrade that will take a few days, downplaying the move which came days after Beijing asked its citizens in this country to be cautious due to the deteriorating security situation.
The Chinese embassy announced on its website that it has temporarily closed down the consular section of its embassy in Pakistan due to “technical issues”. It, however, refrained from providing specific information about the nature of the ”technical issue” or the timeline for the closure.
Responding a question about the matter, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the website of the Chinese Embassy says that it is a Consular Hall, which has been temporarily closed for technical reasons as a system upgrade is in process and will take a few days.
“The Chinese Embassy has also said publicly that its visa and attestation services for Pakistani nationals, which already take place through Gerry’s (a visa outsourcing firm), will continue and will not be affected. I would like to underline that the Embassy’s Consular Hall was in any case mostly providing services to Chinese nationals only. Pakistanis will continue to get the services through Gerry’s,” she said.
Pakistan has seen a rise in terror attacks since late last year when the Pakistani Taliban group called off a fragile truce with the government.
Various militant groups in Pakistan have frequently attacked Chinese nationals working on the ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), aiming to threaten a major segment of Beijing’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.
The CPEC is a USD 65 billion network of roads, railways, pipelines, and ports in Pakistan connecting China to the Arabian Sea.
The BRI is expected to help Pakistan expand and modernise its economy.
A female suicide bomber last April killed three Chinese teachers in Karachi along with their local driver, targeting nationals from Pakistan’s most important partner and seeking to undermine a relationship on which Islamabad’s financial survival largely depends.
Responding to another question on the reports about the supply of defence items by Pakistan to Ukraine, Baloch said these reports were not accurate as Pakistan maintained a policy of non-interference in military conflicts.
On controversial US cypher, she said the controversy had been “discussed and debated and settled and we do not wish to address it any further”.
Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan used the cypher to portray his downfall in April last year.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asia Donald Lu is the central figure in Khan’s claims about a US-backed regime-change conspiracy.
Khan accused Lu of threatening Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed, that a failure to remove Khan through a no-confidence vote would herald “consequences” for Pakistan and vice versa.
Khan was ousted from power in April after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China and Afghanistan.
Baloch also said Pakistan is encouraged by the positive momentum in its relations with the United States and believes that the ongoing bilateral visits will contribute to further strengthening of bilateral relations between the two.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)
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