Chinese engineer in police protection after blasphemy accusation

A Chinese supervisor at the Dasu hydropower project in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's Kohistan district is under police protection after workers accused him of blasphemy, officials said Monday.

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in the country as even rumours of sacrilegious remarks can incite lynch mobs and deadly violence.

Police moved in as crowds gathered on Sunday afternoon and officers took the man to a safer location, Reuters quoted police official Naseerud Din Khan as saying.

Hundreds gathered again on Monday morning and stormed the main district police station, believing the man was hiding in the building, Khan added.

But officials, fearing the man might be attacked, had moved him to another district by military helicopter, Khan said. The man was charged and had so far declined to give a statement, police officials said.

Read more: Police arrest woman accused of blasphemy over online video

According to AFP, officials said that the engineer at the project was accused of blasphemy after he highlighted the "slow pace of work" during the holy month of Ramazan, when Muslims fast from dawn to sunset.

"The labourers said they were fasting but denied that work had slowed down, which led to an exchange of heated words" with the supervisor, a police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"Later, the labourers accused the engineer of making blasphemous remarks" and around 400 locals gathered to protest, he said.

A written complaint filed with the police identified him only as a heavy transport supervisor by the name of "Mr Tian", and said that his remarks on Saturday "sparked tensions".

"The Chinese national has been taken to a safe place as a precautionary measure," Muhammad Nazir, a police official in Dasu, told AFP.

The Chinese embassy in Islamabad did not respond to a request for comment.

A local administration official in Dasu, around 180 kilometres (110 miles) north of the capital Islamabad, said army and paramilitary troops were deployed "to ensure the safety of the engineers".

The Dasu dam construction contract was awarded to the China Gezhouba Group Company in 2017, and the project is shrouded by tight security.

It is among a number of Chinese firms that have taken on infrastructure contracts in the country despite the security threats to Chinese nationals.

Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan, though no executions have ever been carried out for the crime.

Nazir said "formal police action" has not yet started against the Chinese national in Dasu "as authorities are trying to solve this issue peacefully".

Another police official said that "local clerics and village elders are negotiating with the workers to solve this issue".

In December 2021, a Sri Lankan factory manager was beaten to death and set ablaze by a mob that accused him of blasphemy in Sialkot in Punjab province.

Rights groups say hundreds of people are languishing in prison accused of blasphemy as judges delay trials, fearing retribution against themselves.