Chinese killings

Sunday's terrorist attack on a Chinese run workshop located in Peshawar, that left three young Chinese men dead and one injured, comes as a hugely tragic and embarrassing incident. Initial reports said the men were attacked while trying to resist a dacoity attempt. Further, the police had alerted them to the need of arranging security but, being of modest means, they failed to do so.
Subsequent reports suggest the killings were connected with the Lal Masjid stand-off. Witnesses say a number of bearded men came to the victims' home in three jeeps, opened fire on them and left without taking anything from the place. Peshawar police chief also said later that the killings appeared to be a reaction to the Lal Masjid stand-off.
Notably, immediately after the stand-off began a militant leader, Maulvi Fazlullah, known to have close links with the Lal Masjid/Jamia Hafsa seminary clerics, declared an open confrontation. Through his illegal FM radio he urged his supporters/followers to carry out armed attacks, even suicide bombings, against the government to avenge the Lal Masjid action.
Soon afterwards came a string of attacks on police personnel, which killed several policemen as well as innocent bystanders, including four boys who were caught by a bomb aimed at a police car, while playing cricket.
Apparently, it was because of this situation, not a fear of dacoits, that the Chinese were advised to make arrangements for their security. Still, the threat was not treated with the seriousness it deserved. The least that was needed to be done was to help the Chinese leave the place until restoration of normality.
China and its people are seen, across the religious and political divides in this society, as trusted friends of Pakistan, yet there have been several incidents of terrorism involving the Chinese in the two restive provinces of NWFP and Balochistan.
That has been happening not because of the existence of enmity against them in any group or section of the populace but simply because the Chinese, engaged as they have been in a number of development projects and other areas of economic activity, happened to be an easy target.
The activities of the Lal Masjid clerics altered the situation when they abducted a group of Chinese nationals working in Islamabad, accusing them of 'immoral' activities. The incident is believed to have forced the government to stop trying to appease the clerics despite repeated challenges to its authority. Given the situation, the government should have taken special measures to ensure the safety of all Chinese nationals, particularly those living and working in sensitive areas.
The failure to do so has destroyed a family - the survivor lost a son and two nephews in the terrorist attack - while the country's image has taken yet another battering vis-à-vis law and order issues, hurting its outside image as a bastion of extremism. Incidents such as this can easily put paid to all government efforts to attract large-scale foreign investments.