Punjab chief minister Maryam Nawaz on Friday said that Chinese nationals living in Pakistan get “resentful” when they are asked to follow security protocols, a week after five Chinese engineers were among six killed in a suicide bombing in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Maryam, the daughter of three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who became the first-ever woman chief minister of a province in Pakistan, while addressing her maiden Apex Committee meeting here said “the Chinese living here do not want to follow security discipline”.
“They are resentful when they are asked to follow security protocols. They don’t want to come under any discipline as they fret over it,” she added.
The meeting was also attended by Corps Commander Lahore Lt Gen Syed Aamer Raza and other senior military officers. Maryam, however, expressed her government’s resolve to provide fool-proof security to the Chinese nationals working on development projects in Punjab. The meeting also condemned the killing of Chinese engineers in Bisham.
Five Chinese engineers — and their Pakistani driver — were killed in the suicide bombing last week while travelling between Islamabad and a hydroelectric dam construction site in Dasu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The bus was attacked in Bisham city of Shangla district.
Maryam said terrorism has taken the shape of difficult warfare. “Terrorists got digitalised and we need to be ahead of them on such platforms. Besides, terrorists have the latest weapons and technology. They have the US weapons which they got in Afghanistan. The weapons coming from Afghanistan are a big challenge for the law enforcement agencies,” she said.
The 50-year-old PML-N leader added that the youth is also being brainwashed and recruited by terrorists. “And social media is one of the major tools being used for the purpose,” Maryam said.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday directed all the security agencies to ensure fool-proof security arrangements for the Chinese nationals. He had decided to “personally review the meetings with respect to the overall security of the country, especially the security of the Chinese citizens”.
