Attack on Chinese Consulate: Plan readied in Afghanistan, India involved in attack

KARACHI: Additional IGP of Karachi Dr Amir Shaikh said on Friday that the plan to attack the Chinese Consulate in Karachi was prepared in Afghanistan as India and its Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) were involved in the attack. Addressing a press conference in Karachi, the police chief said that five facilitators have been arrested in relation to the attack, which took place in November last year.

He said that terrorists belonging to the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) were involved in the attack. The purpose behind the attack was to create a rift between Pakistan and China and sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, he asserted.

"The attack was planned in Afghanistan," he added. Further, Dr Shaikh shared, "Weapons for the attack were transported from Quetta to Karachi through train service and kept in a house in Baldia Town."

"The suspects stayed at a residence in Baldia Town belonging to a man named Arif," he said. "They conducted a recce of the Chinese consulate for four months." The additional IGP said, "Only one suspect remains to be arrested."

Earlier Friday, police said they have completed the probe into the attack on the Chinese consulate. Security forces on November 23, 2018 foiled an attack on the Chinese consulate located in Karachi’s upscale Clifton area, killing all three terrorists and seizing at least nine hand grenades, Kalashnikov bullets, magazines and explosives.

Two policemen, ASI Ashraf Dawood and Constable Amir, were martyred in the operation to foil the attack. Two civilians, a father and a son, who had come from Quetta for visas, were also killed.