Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif interacts with engineers of the China Gezhouba Group Company (CGGC) working at the Dasu Hydropower project in Upper Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on April 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on April 1 said his government would ensure foolproof security measures for the Chinese nationals working across the country, days after five Chinese workers were killed in a suicide attack in the country’s restive northwest.

A vehicle-borne suicide bomber targeted a convoy of Chinese engineers in the remote Besham area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on last Tuesday, killing five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver.

“I want to assure you that the government of Pakistan will not leave any stone unturned, will not spare any opportunity to make sure you get the best possible security for your families and yourself,” Mr. Sharif told a gathering of the Chinese engineers and workers at the site of Dasu Hydropower Project in Kohistan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province during a visit to express solidarity with them.

He declared exemplary punishment for the perpetrators of the March 26 incident, so that it would be a lesson and that no one could commit such a dastardly act in future.

At least 12 persons, including the mastermind, have been arrested in connection with the blast.

No group had claimed responsibility for the terror attack. However, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Counter-Terrorism Department blamed the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan for the assault.

Terming it a job of the enemies of Pakistan, Prime Minister Sharif said that it was a dastardly act on part of the perpetrators who found every opportunity to harm this friendship which was strengthening by each passing day and expanding and moving forward with speed.

“That is the reason enemies do not spare any opportunity to damage and create a wedge between the two iron brothers,” he added.

The prime minister said that the sole purpose of his visit was to offer sincere condolences and express feelings to the Chinese brothers and sisters in Dasu.

He said it was a cowardly act on part of the terrorists to kill innocent Chinese and a Pakistani for no other reason except to disturb and damage the exceptional friendship between Pakistan and China.

Mr. Sharif said that his government would not leave any stone unturned and would not spare any opportunity to ensure the best possible security measures for the Chinese families and nationals.

He said that after the incident, he had visited the Chinese embassy immediately to offer condolences on behalf of his government and the people of Pakistan to the Chinese leadership and the Chinese people.

He informed that a joint investigation team was also constituted on the same day and its report was due any time, adding that his government would not waste time to act upon the recommendations of the inquiry.

Besides, a high level security meeting was held on March 27 in which they discussed better coordination with the provincial governments over the additional security measures, he added.

The prime minister said that Pakistan-China friendship would march forward in unison and the enemies of the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and this exceptional relationship would be defeated completely.

Speaking on the occasion, Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong said that the prime minister visited the embassy and reassured security for the Chinese nationals. He also expressed gratitude to the government and people of Pakistan for expressing solidarity, adding that they were ready to work together to further build their strategic partnership.

The gathering also observed 30-second silence for those who lost lives in the tragic incident.

Federal Ministers Amir Muqam and Attaullah Tarar as well as members of the Chinese company and senior officials were also present on the occasion.

Security personnel inspect the site of a suicide attack near Besham city in the Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on March 26, 2024. Five Chinese nationals working on a major dam construction site were killed along with their driver on March 26 when a suicide bomber targeted their vehicle in northwest Pakistan, officials said.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Pakistan ramped up security guarding Chinese engineers building Beijing-linked projects in the nation’s northwest, an official said on March 27, a day after five workers were killed in a suicide bombing.

Beijing is Islamabad’s closest regional ally and Pakistan has benefitted from billions of dollars of investment in recent years, but has struggled to guarantee the safety of Chinese migrant workers.

The five Chinese engineers — plus their Pakistani driver — were killed while travelling between Islamabad and a hydroelectric dam construction site in Dasu, in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

A high-ranking official from the provincial interior ministry said on Wednesday that at the more than two-dozen sites hosting Chinese engineers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa security was stepped up.

“Directives have been issued to all law enforcement agencies to enhance security for Chinese nationals and all other foreigners,” he said on condition of anonymity.

“Instructions have also been given to foreign nationals to restrict their movements.”

Information minister Attaullah Tarar told a press conference in Islamabad that security procedures would be reviewed “with a focus on identifying and addressing any gaps”.

Meanwhile, further details emerged about the attack, which has yet to be claimed by any militant group.

Local police officer Bakht Zahir said the five engineers killed near the city of Besham included four men and a woman, and that the bomber targeted the middle vehicle in a convoy of 12.

“The suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into the convoy in the middle, detonating himself, causing the Chinese engineers’ vehicle to fall into a 55-metre ravine and catch fire,” he said.

Pakistan’s domestic chapter of the Taliban is the most active militant threat in the region, but the group’s spokesman denied involvement in a statement late Tuesday.

China has inked more than two trillion dollars in contracts around the world under its Belt and Road investment scheme, with billions pouring into neighbouring Pakistan and aiding its crumbling economy.

Since 2015, power plants, ports and transport projects have been under construction by joint Pakistani-Chinese teams in remote parts of the South Asian nation.

But Chinese workers have frequently been targeted by militants hostile to outside influence, with some complaining Pakistanis are not getting a fair share of wealth from the huge projects.

Tuesday’s attack came just days after militants attempted to storm offices of the Gwadar deepwater port in the southwest, considered a cornerstone of Chinese investment in Pakistan.

It sparked a flurry of diplomatic activity at the Chinese embassy in Islamabad, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the foreign and interior ministers offering condolences in quick succession.

China’s foreign ministry declared the countries “iron-clad friends” but asked Pakistan to “take effective measures to ensure the safety and security of Chinese nationals, projects, and institutions”.