Due to security threats from the banned outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Chinese engineers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were shifted to Islamabad on July 22, Dawn reported.
Peshawar: Amid security threats from banned outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Chinese engineers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were shifted to Islamabad on July 22, Dawn reported.
The resurgence of the TTP in the Malakand division last summer halted work on two hydropower plants in the Gorkin Matilton area of Swat district, KP, and another (11.8 MW) in the Korora area of Shangla district, official documents revealed. A document revealed that those engineers were sitting “idle” in Islamabad since July 5, 2022, Dawn reported.
Documents available with Dawn show that work on the Gorkin Matilton project stalled on July 5, 2022, after the Swat District Police Officer ordered the Chinese engineers working on it to be “fixed” due to the worsening security situation in the district. .
Another document revealed that work on the Karora project had been halted since May 20 last year, just over a month before the project’s deadline, due to security threats to Chinese engineers, Dawn reported.
“Chinese [engineers] working on [Karora] The project has been demobilized more than seven times since September 2021 [the] Instructions of security agencies,” it said.
Meanwhile, the provincial government expressed concern over “security risks” to Chinese workers at a local hydroelectric plant and urged security agencies to take corrective steps, Dawn reported.
An official statement read that the province could face heavy losses due to the security situation and delays in project work.
A meeting chaired by Power and Energy Secretary Nisar Ahmad Khan was held on Monday in which the security agencies were directed to adopt an integrated strategy for timely completion of multi-crore hydropower projects, The Nation reported.
In the meeting, the participants discussed various options to improve the security system. Bullet-proof vehicles will be arranged for foreign engineers and secure security arrangements will be ensured, The Nation reported.
At the end of the meeting, the Energy Secretary said that the provincial government should adopt a well-planned security strategy including establishing close liaison with the concerned district administration, police and other agencies so that the work of power plants is not hampered.
In July 2021, at least 12 people, including nine Chinese engineers working on the Dasu Dam project in Upper Kohistan district, were killed in a suicide bombing on a bus carrying them.
Meanwhile, Gwadar Rights Movement leader Maulana Hidayat ur Rehman has warned Chinese nationals to leave the Gwadar port area, The Maritime Executive reported.
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Maulana threatened Chinese nationals living in Gwadar, according to reports, warning that if the government “ignores” their peaceful protest, the participants “have the right to take up arms and use them to defend our rights.”
Asian Light International reports that there are fewer than 500 Chinese in Gwadar, all in the Gwadar port compound, media reports suggest.
Protests over the expansion of Pakistan’s Gwadar port, a key asset of China’s BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) in Asia, are on the rise, which could threaten economic ties between China and Pakistan, The Maritime Executive reported.
Last week, the incident took a new turn after a protest leader warned Chinese nationals to leave Gwadar by the end of the week.
Chinese nationals face increasing threats from various terrorist groups in Pakistan, with incidents of targeted attacks on Chinese nationals increasing in recent times. Growing anti-China sentiment in Gwadar could adversely affect the progress of key CPEC projects.
Furthermore, after the TTP ended the ceasefire with Islamabad, there has been an increase in terrorist incidents in Pakistan, especially in KP and Balochistan.
The TTP has deep historical ties to the Afghan Taliban, Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP). This is a by-product of al-Qaeda’s jihadist politics in Afghanistan and Pakistan after 9/11.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by HW News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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