Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa stops Chinese nationals from travelling without armoured vehicles

Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has stopped Chinese nationals from travelling in the province without armoured vehicles, Dawn newspaper reported on Wednesday (May 1), citing a senior police official. 

Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) in Hazara range Tahir Ayub Khan said that, even as the police were adopting all possible measures for the safety of Chinese nationals, they should not travel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa without armoured vehicles.

The report said that DIG Khan and other officials paid a visit to the Suki Kinari and Balakot hydropower projects.

He also attended security meetings for the hydropower projects in Malkandi and Ghanool. 

The participants included security personnel, Chinese engineers, and managers of the two projects, the report added.

The DIG further said that the boundary walls of residential colonies, where Chinese nationals lived, would not be less than eight feet and might be topped with barbed wires.

Khan also said that the security personnel would protect the lives of the Chinese engineers by all means.

The top cop's remarks came in the backdrop of five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver being killed by a suicide bomber in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on March 26.

According to the police, a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers which was on its way from Islamabad to their camp in Dasu.  

The attack took place in the Shangla district’s Besham city, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

China has invested billions in infrastructure projects as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and several Chinese engineers have been working on several projects in the South Asian country.