PM vows security for Pakistanis, foreigners

Shehbaz assures protection amid rising concerns over CPEC security

LAHORE:

A couple of days after China’s expression of concern about the security of their citizens working on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) related projects, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed the commitment of the state to ensure the security of Pakistanis as well as foreign nationals.

“Ensuring protection and security of both Pakistani people and foreign nationals is the topmost priority of the state,” PM Shehbaz said on Sunday.

While co-chairing a meeting of the Pakistan-China Joint Consultative Mechanism with Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday, Liu Jianchao, the Minister of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, had said: “We need to improve security and the business environment. Security threats are the main hazards disturbing CPEC cooperation.”

Liu was apparently alluding to the March 26 terrorist attack on a convoy of Chinese engineers in the Besham area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. In this attack, five Chinese engineers working at the Dasu Hydropower Project were killed along with their Pakistani driver.

PM Shehbaz Sharif, who was chairing a meeting in Punjab’s provincial capital regarding law and order and security projects in Islamabad on Sunday, noted that “no negligence in establishing law and order situation and protection of citizens will be tolerated.”

Earlier, the participants of the meeting were briefed regarding the current law and order situation in Islamabad as well as progress with regard to Islamabad Model Jail, Islamabad Safe City, Federal Anti-Terrorism Department, and Special Protection Unit.

The PM was told that the Islamabad National Facility Centers and K-9 unit had been established for identification and tracking of narcotics and explosives.

Speaking on the occasion, the PM directed an inquiry into the delay in completion of Islamabad Model Jail.