ISLAMABAD – Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has formed a committee to prepare a plan for the establishment of the Dasu-Chilas Safe City Project to ensure foolproof security for Chinese nationals working in the country’s northwest, the Pakistani interior ministry announced on Saturday.
The decision was made at a meeting Naqvi presided over in Islamabad to review the security of the Chinese and other foreigners. The newly formed committee will present its recommendations within 15 days.
This development follows the incident two months ago, where five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver were killed in a suicide attack while travelling to the Dasu hydropower project in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The hydropower project is part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, for which China has pledged more than $65 billion for road, rail, and other infrastructure developments in Pakistan.
“The prime minister has instructed that the Dasu-Chilas Safe City be established. It will be developed according to modern requirements like the projects in Islamabad and Lahore,” Naqvi was quoted as saying by his ministry.
“The aim of the Safe City is not just to install cameras but to implement a system equipped with modern technology and artificial intelligence tools. Through this project, the surveillance and security of the area will be ensured.”
The committee, which includes the Islamabad police chief, the Hazara regional police officer, and a Water & Power Development Authority (WAPDA) representative, will jointly prepare a comprehensive plan, according to the Pakistani interior ministry.
Chinese projects and interests have increasingly come under attack in recent years. The Dasu assault in March was the third major one in a little over a week on Chinese interests in Pakistan.
It followed a 20th March attack on a strategic port used by China in the southwestern province of Balochistan, where Beijing has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure projects, and a 25th March assault on a naval air base, also in the southwest. Both attacks were 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 before, with a bus blast in 2021 killing 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals, although no group claimed responsibility for that attack, like the one on 26th March.
On Thursday, Pakistan’s top economic body approved $2.5 million in compensation for the families of Chinese workers killed in the 26th March Dasu attack.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/24-May-2024/pakistan-to-pay-dollar-2-5-million-to-families-of-chinese-engineers-killed-in-shangla-suicide-attack
