Sino-Pak friendship: Celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations

Rich tributes paid to leadership of both countries for maintaining exemplary ties.

GILGIT:

The Gilgit-Baltistan Chinese Overseas Association (G-BCOA) organised a ceremony to mark 60 years of diplomatic relations with China. They paid rich tributes to the leadership of both the countries for maintaining exemplary ties over the years.

In Pakistan, the occasion was officially marked on January 1 this year, at a ceremony hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chinese embassy at the Pakistan-China Friendship Centre, presented to Pakistan as symbol of friendship.

“This year reflects our love for both the countries and a friendship which stands taller than the Karakoram mountains,” said G-BCOA General Secretary, Abdur Rehman Bukhari.

G-BCOA is a regional body of Chinese Uyghur expatriates, a Muslims community now settled in Gilgit-Baltistan and Rawalpindi. They had migrated from China’s Sinkiang province before partition. Around 5,000 Uyghers families in Pakistan have ties with their relatives in Kashgar and other parts of Sinkiang.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2011.