Pakistani govt committed to protect CPEC, Senate told

Islamabad: Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has affirmed the government’s commitment to protect the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Responding to questions in the Senate, Ahmed said the Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government will fulfill its commitment towards the on CPEC.

He mentioned that the government had arrested terrorists involved in Dasu and Gwadar attacks that left many dead and wounded. “Neither terrorism will be allowed in the country nor any compromise be made on the solidarity of Pakistan,” he asserted.

He maintained that the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) was monitoring the terrorist activities in Sindh and Punjab, while this job was being looked after by almost 11 corps of the Pakistan army in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

On July 14, 2021 nine Chinese nationals and four locals were killed and 28 others sustained injuries when a coach carrying them to an under-construction tunnel site of the 4,300-megawatt Dasu hydropower project fell into a ravine in the Upper Kohistan area after an explosion.

Afterwards, Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong assured that China and Pakistan would continue to cooperate more closely to face such challenges together.

Almost a month later in August, a suicide bomber attacked a convoy of Chinese nationals in the Balochistan province in which two children were killed and a Chinese national was among several others who sustained injuries. On August 21, the Chinese embassy in Islamabad strongly condemned the suicide attack on the convoy of Chinese nationals comprising four vehicles in Gwadar.

This month, China announced that the work on Dasu Hydropower Project in Pakistan had resumed. “The Dasu Hydropower Project in Pakistan has resumed work,” said Zhao Lijian, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The Dasu hydropower project is part of the CPEC, a US $ 65 billion project aimed at connecting China’s northwestern Xinjiang province to the port of Gwadar in Balochistan.

A large number of Chinese nationals are working in Pakistan as part of the CPEC infrastructure projects. The Pakistan army has created a special security division for the security of CPEC and its workforce.