Will provide full security to Chinese workforce: PM Nawaz

Premier directs interior ministry to beef up security of all Chinese workers associated with various projects

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif assured on Monday the government will provide full security to Chinese workers in Pakistan.

“China is a very close friend to Pakistan besides being a strategic partner and the government will provide full security to the Chinese workers in Pakistan,” PM Nawaz said while chairing a review meeting in Islamabad to monitor progress on projects related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.



Further, the premier asked directed the Interior Ministry to beef up security for Chinese workers associated with different projects in the country.

Declaring the CPEC a “game changer for the region,” PM Nawaz claimed the project will be completed within stipulated time.

Earlier, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal briefed the prime minister on progress on CPEC-related projects.

China had earlier called for better security provision for its workers engaged in the CPEC, a multi-billion dollars project aimed at starting new economic opportunities in the South Asian region.

Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong during a meeting with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in Islamabad on October 14 had demanded the provision of fool-proof security to all Chinese workers associated with the CPEC.



Pakistan and China have agreed on a four-layer security plan for over 3,000km-long trade route that will connect the Gwadar port to China’s north-western Xinjiang province.

“We are going for a four-layer plan for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), integrated with a new security policy,” said a senior security official, who attended a meeting in China last month. “An estimated 32,000 security personnel will guard over 14,321 Chinese workers engaged in some 210 small and mega projects in Pakistan.” Before this decision, a three-layer security plan was envisioned, he said.

The fresh plan of providing security to Chinese nationals includes over 500 Chinese security personnel for capacity-building of the newly-raised special force as well as local police to better guard the sensitive routes surrounding the port, added the official. “The Chinese are pretty much satisfied with the new security plan,” said CPEC Project Director Maj Gen (retd) Zahir Shah.



According to this plan, Balochistan would get more security, as six wings (5,700 personnel) of the Frontier Corps, 3,000 police constables and 1,000 Levies personnel would guard all the routes, disclosed an official at the Ministry of Interior. He said the Pakistan Marines and the border security forces would also guard the port and its adjacent routes.

More than 3,500 policemen, 900 Rangers, 4,100 private security guards and 740 Askari Guards would protect various projects linked to the economic corridor in Punjab, he said.