BEIJING - PAKISTAN and China are cooperating to stamp out violent groups that span their border, the Pakistani interior minister said on Friday, claiming that miltants in the mountainous frontier have formed a 'syndicate'.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik was speaking in Beijing, where he has been discussing closer cooperation with senior Chinese officials, who say their country's north-west Xinjiang region is menaced by Uighur separatists who have links in central Asia and the borderlands of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Resource-rich Xinjiang, strategically located on the borders of Central Asia, was hit by violent attacks before and during the Olympic Games last year.
Chinese security officials blamed Uighur militants seeking an independent state they call East Turkestan.
Mr Malik told Reuters the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a group Beijing has accused of orchestrating violent attacks, has 'formed a syndicate' with Taleban and other militant groups in the mountain regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistan has handed Chinese nationals accused of insurgent activity back to China and would do so again, Mr Malik added.
'Obviously, in all our actions we are not sparing them. We are taking action,' he said of ETIM. 'Whoever is arrested...that militant shall be handed back to China without any reservations.' China has also provided intelligence and supplies for Pakistani police forces, Mr Malik added.
'Despite a lot of threats, China has not pulled out their projects,' said Mr Malik. 'Rather they have increased their projects. This shows the commitment of China with Pakistan.'
Mr Malik said Pakistan must be ready for more attempted attacks by militants, adding that security forces were seeking to prevent them regrouping outside the Swat valley, where government forces have mounted an offensive to restore control.
Mr Malik was speaking in Beijing briefly before reports of two fresh bomb attacks in Pakistan appeared.
'No doubt, this aggression is there and we expected some kind of reaction,' he said of the risk of fresh attacks.
'I think they are likely to continue for some time, because most of these militants have left Swat and there is a likelihood they might regroup, and we are putting all our efforts that they do not regroup,' he added. -- REUTERS
