Maryam Nawaz.
| Photo Credit: AP

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Friday said that Chinese nationals living in Pakistan get “resentful” when they are asked to follow security protocols, a week after five Chinese engineers were among six killed in a suicide bombing in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Ms. Maryam, the daughter of three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who became the first-ever woman Chief Minister of a province in Pakistan, while addressing her maiden Apex Committee meeting here said “the Chinese living here do not want to follow security discipline”.

“They are resentful when they are asked to follow security protocols. They don’t want to come under any discipline as they fret over it,” she added.

The meeting was also attended by Corps Commander Lahore Lt Gen Syed Aamer Raza and other senior military officers.

Ms. Maryam, however, expressed her government’s resolve to provide fool-proof security to the Chinese nationals working on development projects in Punjab. The meeting also condemned the killing of Chinese engineers in Bisham.

Five Chinese engineers — and their Pakistani driver — were killed in the suicide bombing last week while travelling between Islamabad and a hydroelectric dam construction site in Dasu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The bus was attacked in Bisham city of Shangla district.

Ms. Maryam said terrorism has taken the shape of difficult warfare. “Terrorists got digitalised and we need to be ahead of them on such platforms. Besides, terrorists have the latest weapons and technology. They have the US weapons which they got in Afghanistan. The weapons coming from Afghanistan are a big challenge for the law enforcement agencies,” she said.

The 50-year-old Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party leader added that the youth is also being brainwashed and recruited by terrorists. “And social media is one of the major tools being used for the purpose,” Maryam said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday directed all the security agencies to ensure fool-proof security arrangements for the Chinese nationals working on various projects in the country.

According to a statement, the Prime Minister said he had decided to “personally review the meetings with respect to the overall security of the country, especially the security of the Chinese citizens”.

Mr. Sharif said the war against the menace of terrorism will continue till its complete eradication from the country.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chairs a high level security meeting with Pakistan’s Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir and other officials after a suicide attack, in Islamabad.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Chinese contractors have halted construction on two major dam projects in Pakistan after a suicide bomber killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani driver this week, a provincial official told AFP on Friday.

The companies have demanded that Pakistan authorities come up with new security plans before reopening the sites where around 1,250 Chinese nationals are working, the official said.

The security of Chinese workers is a major concern to both countries, with nationals frequently targeted by militants hostile to outside influence.

The workers were targeted on Tuesday by a suicide bomber who rammed into their vehicle on a mountainous road near one of the dam sites.

He detonated his explosives on impact, plunging their vehicle into a deep ravine.

A senior official from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa interior department told AFP on condition of anonymity that since Wednesday, China Gezhouba Group Company has halted work on the Dasu dam in the province and Power China has stopped work on Diamer Bhasha dam, which straddles two provinces.

“They have demanded new security plans from the government,” he said.

“Around 750 Chinese engineers are engaged in the Dasu Dam project, while 500 are working on the Diamer Bhasha Dam,” he added.

He said the movement of Chinese engineers has been restricted to the compounds where they live, close to the sites.

China has not commented, but this week repeatedly urged Pakistan to ensure the safety of its nationals.

‘Iron-clad friends’

Beijing is Islamabad’s closest regional ally, readily providing financial assistance to bail out its often-struggling neighbour.

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

But Pakistanis have long complained that they are not getting a fair share of jobs or wealth created by the projects.

Tuesday’s attack 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”.

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.

In 2019, gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in Balochistan province overlooking the flagship Chinese-backed deepwater seaport in Gwadar that gives strategic access to the Arabian Sea — killing at least eight people.

In June 2020, Baloch insurgents targeted the Pakistan Stock Exchange, which is partly owned by Chinese companies, in the commercial capital of Karachi.