Lahore: Pakistan's Punjab province Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Friday said Chinese nationals get "resentful" when they are asked to follow protocols in the country and said they don't want to follow discipline. This came after a suicide bomb attack killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani driver in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Addressing her maiden Apex Committee meeting in Lahore, Maryam, the daughter of three-time former PM Nawaz Sharif and the first-ever woman CM of any Pakistan province, said "the Chinese living here do not want to follow any discipline". The meeting was also attended by Corps Commander Lahore Lt Gen Syed Aamer Raza and other senior military officers.
“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,” Maryam said. However, she expressed her government's resolve to provide foolproof security to the Chinese nationals working on development projects in Punjab. The meeting condemned the killing of Chinese engineers who were travelling between Islamabad and a hydroelectric dam construction site in Dasu.
"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,” the Punjab provincial CM added. She also stressed that the youth is brainwashed and recruited by terrorists on social media.
Pakistan to provide foolproof security to Chinese nationals
Meanwhile, 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. He had decided to “personally review the meetings with respect to the overall security of the country, especially the security of the Chinese citizens", according to a statement.
Shehbaz said the war against the menace of terrorism will continue till its complete eradication from the country. The Pakistan PM also ordered disciplinary action against four senior police officials for their "negligence" after an inquiry committee probing the suicide attack.
Last week, a vehicle-borne suicide bomber targeted the convoy of Chinese engineers in the remote Besham area of the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when they were being driven to a construction site of the Dasu Hydroelectric power station in Kohistan district of the same province. Five Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver were killed in the attack.
"The prime minister has directed to take action against the regional police officer (RPO) Hazara Division; district police officer of Upper Kohistan and Lower Kohistan; director security, Dasu Hydropower Project and commandant special security unit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa within 15 days," said Information Minister Attaullah Tarar.
Earlier, President Asif Ali Zardari called on Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong and asserted that Pakistan would take all measures for the security of the Chinese nationals employed on various projects in the country. Thousands of Chinese personnel are working in Pakistan on several projects under the aegis of the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
(with PTI inputs)
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