BRICS declaration may strain China-Pak ties: Experts

September 04, 2017 23:07

The move to name some Pakistan-based terror groups in the BRICS declaration would "irritate" Islamabad and may strain its ties with China, a Chinese scholar said in a rare criticism of the government's decision.

Hu Shisheng, director of the state-run China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said Chinese diplomats will have a lot of explanation to do to Pakistan in the coming months. "How will we carry forward?"

He also said that naming the Haqqani network, which operates in Afghanistan and targets the NATO forces stationed there, in the document was "beyond my understanding".

"The head of the group is also the actual head of the Afghan Taliban. It will make China's role for Afghan political reconciliation process more difficult. Or you can say we have no role to play in future," the expert told PTI.

His criticism of China came after the BRICS declaration in the Chinese city Xiamen named the terrorist groups -- including the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Taliban, and the Haqqani Network -- for causing violence in the region.

"It is beyond my understanding how China agreed to this. I don't think it is good idea," Hu said.

"I think some persons who prepared this declaration got mislead. Otherwise I could not understand why," he said.

In the light of the inclusion of the JeM, China may reconsider its stand on blocking a proposed UN ban on the leader of the group, Masood Azhar, the Chinese expert said.

Hu said the declaration will augment pressure on Pakistan, especially after US President Donald Trump rebuked Islamabad for harbouring these terror groups on its soil.

"This will irritate Pakistan. I don't think when the BRICS declaration was made, Pakistan was consulted. In the coming days Chinese diplomats have to explain to Pakistan.

"I am not against listing LeT and JeM as terrorist groups. But there are more deadly groups than these like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami of Pakistan, which was behind killing of two Chinese youths in Balochistan," he said.

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