Farewell ceremony for deceased Chinese nationals held in Pakistan

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, April 1 (Xinhua) -- A farewell ceremony for the Chinese nationals killed in a terrorist attack was held on March 31 at Nur Khan airbase here in Pakistan.

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong, Pakistani officials, diplomats from the Chinese Embassy and representatives of Chinese enterprises in Pakistan attended the ceremony.

Jiang said in a speech at the ceremony that the Chinese compatriots who were in the flower of their youth, came all the way to Pakistan from afar and have made important contributions to promoting Pakistan's development and advancing China-Pakistan friendship and cooperation.

He added that the best consolation for the deceased is to find out the truth of the incident and severely punish the perpetrators. The most powerful response to the terrorists is to resolutely fight against terrorism and eradicate all the evil forces.

He also said that the Chinese side hopes and believes the Pakistani side will speed up the investigation, strengthen its counterterrorism efforts and take all measures to ensure the security of Chinese personnel, institutions and projects in Pakistan.

"We stand ready to work with the Pakistani side to unwaveringly promote our all-weather strategic cooperation to accelerate the building of an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future," said the Chinese ambassador.

Chaudhry Salik Hussain, federal minister for overseas Pakistanis and human resource development, expressed deep condolences to the victims at the ceremony.

He strongly condemned the terrorist attack and said that Pakistan has always stood with the Chinese government and people.

Pakistan will thoroughly investigate the incident and find out the truth as soon as possible and bring the perpetrators to justice, he said, adding that any attempt to undermine the friendship between Pakistan and China will be doomed to failure.

Five Chinese and one Pakistani national were killed on March 26 in a terrorist attack on the way to the Dasu Hydropower Project in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province from Islamabad.