ISLAMABAD – A Pakistani anti-terrorism court on Friday sentenced two militants to death in the terrorist attack that killed nine Chinese nationals at the Dasu hydropower project.
In July 2021, at least 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals were killed in a deliberate bombing near a hydropower plant site in the remote upper Kohistan region.
Reports in local media suggest that a special Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) sentenced two militants, Muhammad Hussain age 49, and Muhammad Ayaz age 42, to death in terror attack, and imposed a Rs40 million fine besides awarding them a total of around 800 years of imprisonment.
Judge Sajjad Ahmed Jan of a special anti-terrorism court ordered the release of the four other accused including Shaukat Ali, Anwar Ali, and Fazal Hadi, who were not found guilty.
It was reported that a special court ordered for hanging each militant on 13 counts for the crime under section 302 PPC and 7(A) of the Anti-Terrorist Act (ATA).
Terror attack
Nine Chinese nationals and three Pakistani nationals – including two FC personnel – were killed while multiple were injured when a passenger coach was struck with a blast in Upper Kohistan in the early hours.
The victims encountered the bomb on a vehicle heading to the China-invested Dasu hydropower project in the morning. The passenger coach of foreign construction workers departed from the Bursin labour camp when a loud explosion rocked the bus during the mid-journey.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), in a statement, said the bus plunged into a ravine “after a mechanical failure, resulting in leakage of gas that caused a blast”.
The Pakistani military also organized rescue efforts right away, sending helicopters to transport the wounded.
TTP s Swat chapter executed Dasu terrorist attack with help of RAW-NDS nexus: FO
Pakistan approves compensation for Chinese nationals
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has approved a compensation package worth around $11.6mn for the affected Chinese nationals of the Dasu Hydropower Project attack.
The proposal of payment was approved as a goodwill gesture on the state level in light of Islamabad’s deep relationship with Beijing.
The Dasu hydropower project is part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $65 billion project aimed at connecting China’s northwestern Xinjiang province to the port of Gwadar in Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
