Islamabad:

Pakistan’s prime minister has ordered at least five senior police officials be punished for negligence after a suicide bomber killed five Chinese engineers at a major dam site last month, the country’s information minister said Saturday.

The attack in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province forced Power China and the China Gezhouba Company to suspend work on two dam projects after the bombing killed the five workers and a Pakistani driver, sending their van into a deep ravine.

Hundreds of Chinese people are employed at the Dasu and Diamer Bhasha dam construction sites, located around 100 km (62 miles) apart in the mountainous region.

Minister of Information Attaullah Tarar said a committee appointed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif identified a regional official, three district officials and the director of security at the Dasu dam project for their “negligence” in fulfilling their duties.

“The prime minister has ordered immediate action against these officials,” Tarar told a press conference in the city of Lahore, without specifying what their punishment will be.

“The prime minister himself will be monitoring the security of Chinese (nationals). Those individuals who have shown negligence will be set as an example.”

Tarar said security matters regarding Chinese citizens would be “treated with utmost seriousness and any lapses will not be tolerated.”

Operations by Power China have resumed at Diamer Bhasha while operations at China Gezhouba Group Company at Dasu remain closed.

Pakistani police have detained more than 12 people, including Afghan nationals, in connection with the bombing.

Beijing is Islamabad’s closest regional ally, frequently offering financial assistance to support its often-struggling neighbour and pouring more than $2 trillion into infrastructure projects.

However, Pakistanis have long complained about not receiving a fair share of the jobs or wealth generated by the projects.

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

Last week’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.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Islamabad, Pakistan:

Chinese investigators arrived in Pakistan on Friday to join a probe into the killing of five Chinese nationals in a suicide attack, Pakistan’s interior ministry said, seeking to stem assaults threatening Islamabad’s drive to modernise the economy.

Tuesday’s incident was the third major attack in little over a week on China’s interests in the South Asian nation, where Beijing has invested more than $65 billion in infrastructure projects as part of its wider Belt and Road initiative.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met the Chinese team of investigators at Beijing’s embassy and briefed them on the investigation so far, the statement said.

In late 2022, the two allied countries started a joint investigation into an attack that year on China’s nationals and its interests, which have seen a rise in recent months.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attack, in which a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a hydropower project at Dasu in Pakistan’s northwest, killing six people.

The bombing followed a March 20 attack on a strategic port used by China in the southwestern province of Balochistan, where Beijing has poured billions of dollars into infrastructure projects, and a March 25 assault on a naval air base, also in the southwest. Both attacks was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of several separatist groups in Balochistan.

Dasu, the site of a major dam, has been attacked in the past, with a bus blast in 2021 killing 13 people, nine Chinese among them, although no group claimed responsibility.

Chinese contractors suspended work on three hydropower projects in view of security concerns after Tuesday’s attack, a government official said, adding that it was a routine practice after such incidents.

Pakistan is home to twin insurgencies, one mounted by Islamist militants and the other by ethnic separatists who seek secession, blaming the government’s inequitable division of natural resources in southwestern Balochistan province.

Chinese interests are under attack primarily by ethnic militants seeking to push Beijing out of mineral-rich Balochistan, but that area is far from the site of Tuesday’s bombing.

Pakistan has set up a dedicated force of police and military to ensure security for Chinese activities, officials say.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Peshawar:

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.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)