Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has denied claims made by some Chinese officials that her country had anything to do with terrorist attacks late last month in China's far-western Xinjiang region.
Last month, two bomb blasts were followed by deadly mayhem in the streets of Kashgar in Xinjiang, leaving at least 19 people dead, including five attackers, and injuring over 40 others.
At the time, the Kashgar government had issued a statement saying that the terrorist ringleader had received training from a Pakistan-based camp of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a banned organization that seeks independence for Xinjiang.
The Pakistan foreign minister, who is on an official visit to China, said that officials clarified to her that Beijing is not accusing her country of being behind the Xinjiang terrorist attacks, the Voice of America reports.
"The statement, vis-à-vis Pakistan's involvement of any sort, was misconstrued, was not from the Chinese government," said Khar.
At the same time, she said that Pakistan has worked with China regarding the ETIM, and is ready to do more.
"If you are saying, 'Does it [ETIM] have any base in Pakistan?' We do not know. And if there is any such issue, as far as this particular group is concerned, then as I have said clearly, we would like to cooperate further to ensure - and we have already cooperated on this particular group within Pakistan," she added.
The ETIM is made up of ethnic Uighurs, a Chinese minority group that calls Xinjiang its homeland.
Barnard College Political Science Professor Alexander Cooley said he thinks any ETIM presence in Pakistan is not likely to be a top priority for Pakistani authorities, the report said.
"My sense is you do not have the same kind of ties between the Pakistani military and the intelligence services, with the Uighur groups, that you do with some of the other Islamic groups, where they [Pakistan] maintain connections," noted Cooley.
