Senior officials from around Eurasia have begun meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit under tight security in Islamabad amid a surge in violence by various separatist groups in Pakistan.
Thousands of security officers had the capital locked down on October 15 as seven prime minsters -- including from longtime ally China and the foreign minister of archrival India -- began to discuss security issues, regional cooperation, trade, and financial integrity among the 10 member states.
Early on October 11, unidentified gunmen shot and killed 21 coal miners in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan Province, which has been rocked by a series of militant attacks since the start of the year.
Baluch separatist groups, such as the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), designated as a global terrorist organization by the United States, are engaged in fighting against the Pakistani government.
Pakistan's northwest has also recently experienced a surge in militant violence.
On October 10, militants opened fire on a police vehicle in the city of Tank, killing two officers. Within hours the military said it had killed four militants in North Waziristan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
In other recent violence in the country, two Chinese citizens were killed in a large blast near the airport of Karachi that the Chinese Embassy called a "terrorist attack." The blast was claimed by the BLA.
The attack took place late on October 6 and it targeted a convoy of Chinese employees of the Port Qasim Electric Power Company Limited that was traveling from the airport, the embassy said. The Chinese citizens were working on the construction of two coal-fired power plants in Pakistan.
Member countries of the SCO, formed in 2001 by Moscow and Beijing, include China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, and Iran.
India and Pakistan became full members in 2017, while Iran became a member in 2023 and Belarus in July 2024.
Leaders from India and Pakistan are not expected to meet during the SCO summit.