Pakistani soldiers to protect Chinese
Print Edition
PAKISTAN has deployed a 15,000-strong military force to protect Chinese nationals working on energy and infrastructure projects in the country, the president said yesterday.
The announcement follows concerns raised by the abduction of a Chinese couple.
President Mamnoon Hussain told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Islamabad that the protection of Chinese citizens working in Pakistan was the government’s “top priority,” according to a statement issued by the presidency.
Beijing is investing around US$50 billion in its South Asian neighbor as part of a plan unveiled in 2015 to link its far-western Xinjiang region to Gwadar port in Balochistan with a series of infrastructure, power and transport upgrades.
Authorities were going to all possible efforts to arrest those responsible for kidnapping, Hussain said.
China has said it will cooperate with Pakistani authorities to investigate whether the two — allegedly killed by the Islamic State group — had been preaching illegally. So far there has been no official confirmation of their fate.
Pakistan has been battling Islamist and nationalist insurgencies in mineral-rich Balochistan since 2004, with hundreds of soldiers and militants killed in the fighting.
The IS group has been making inroads in the country through alliances with local militant outfits, although its presence is generally downplayed by the government.
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