Since the launch of the CPEC - China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, reports of attacks on Chinese nationals are increasing in Pakistan’s Sindh, Balochistan and Kyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. In the most recent incident, a Chinese Pakistani dentist was shot dead in Pakistan’s largest commercial hub, Karachi, on September 28.

A new Sindhi Ethno-nationalist militant group, the Sindhudesh People’s Army, from Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, said they were behind the attack in a statement claiming responsibility. Not much is known about the group.

Ethnic Baloch separatists and Sindh separatists alike have recently launched a series of targeted attacks on Chinese citizens in Karachi and the restive southwestern Balochistan province. Separatist nationalists say China is involved in large-scale resource extraction and exploitation in Sindh and Balochistan through the CPEC. 

This is the 10th such major attack reported since 2016 when the CPEC was launched. Most recently in April, three Chinese language teachers and their Pakistani driver were killed in an alleged suicide bombing in Karachi, near the city's Confucius Institute.