Pakistan deplores any attempt to discontinue China's progress and applauds China's leadership's efforts to boost harmony both at home and abroad, a spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

Abdul Basit made the remarks when commenting on the deadly riot in northwest China which left 156 people dead and more than 1,000 injured.

"We deplore any such attempt" which tries to impede the progress which has been achieved by China in the context of social harmony, Basit told Xinhua after a weekly press briefing.

"We are committed not to allow any element in Pakistan to work against the interest of China because China's interests are Pakistan's interests. We cannot allow any activity that is to damage China's interest," he said.

Basit also said Pakistan is taking measures to protect Chinese individuals and institutions in the country.

"Yes, We are (taking measures)," he said. "It's an ongoing thing, you know, and it is not an one-off event."

He said Pakistan will not allow certain religous elements in the country to do anything that goes against China's interests.

"China is Pakistan's all-weather friend with a rich history and ancient civilization," the Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement issued shortly after the riot in Urumqi, capital of China's northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

"Over the centuries, people of various races and origins have lived side by side in China in a spirit of coexistence and social harmony, which are essential for national progress and development," it said.

"Pakistan applauds the efforts of the Chinese leadership to promote the concept of harmony both at home, in Asia and the rest of the world," it said.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on the same day that the July 5 incident in Xinjiang is an organized and premeditated violence aimed at sabotaging China's national unification and ethnic solidarity.

(Xinhua News Agency July 10, 2009)