[Dawn] Pakistain's interior minister Tuesday vowed to attack Chinese gunnies hiding out in his country's tribal regions, saying China's enemies were also Islamabad's.Rehman Malik
Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Näwaz Shärif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men.
made the strong show of support for Beijing after a meeting with visiting Chinese Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu.
The trip comes as Pakistain's ties with the United States have soured over allegations that Islamabad supports Afghan gunnies that are also based in Pakistain's tribal regions.
Some Pak officials hope that China can fill any diplomatic and economic void if Washington decides to sever or downgrade ties with Islamabad.
Militants from China's western Xinjiang are known to be training and fighting on the Pakistain side of the Afghan border, along with al Qaeda and other international thug networks. They have claimed attacks in China and issued statements threatening Beijing."We will strike very hard against them," Malik said. "Anybody who is the enemy of China is the enemy of Pakistain."
It remains unclear how Pakistain will do this. Most of the gunnies are believed to be in the North Wazoo tribal area. Pakistain's army has a presence there, but so far has not touched the several thousand gunnies there.
Malik said Sunday Islamabad had killed or extradited several Chinese cut-thoats, but didn't say when or from where.