ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah on Monday visited the site of the Diamer Basha Dam and vowed that the Pakistan government would beef up security for Chinese workers on the project, which is being constructed on the River Indus, 40-kilometer downstream of the northern town of Chilas.
In July 2021, a group of Chinese nationals working on a similar hydroelectric project in Kohistan district were targeted by militants before their bus fell into a ravine. The incident killed nine of them and injured over 25 other people.
Pakistan also witnessed deadly attacks against Chinese nationals in the southern provinces of Balochistan and Sindh, making officials in Beijing call for greater security for its citizens in Pakistan working on various power generation and infrastructure development projects.
The visit was aimed at assessing the overall security arrangements on the mega multi-purpose project, and the interior minister was briefed about security arrangements on the project by the chairman of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA).
“WAPDA presented the status of security apparatus deployed for construction of the dam and Chinese working on the project,” the interior ministry said in a statement.
The chief secretary of Gilgit-Baltistan region also spoke about the security measures taken in Diamer District to augment the security of Chinese workers on the project.
“Chief Secretary informed Interior Minister that 190 police personnel have been attached with Diamer Basha Dam Task Force despite severe shortage of police personnel in district,” the statement said. “He requested Minister Interior for creation of 700 posts for CTD [Counter Terrorism Department] as already submitted to Federal Finance division.”
Chief Secretary Gilgit-Baltistan also requested the creation of additional 400 posts for Diamer District.
“He assured that it will improve overall security situation in Diamer District besides providing more manpower to the dam’s security task force since the number of Chinese workers on the project will increase from present strength of 380 to around 1000 workers/engineers.”
Sanaullah agreed to the request of the chief secretary of Gilgit-Baltistan and said the matter would be taken up with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif this week “to get his express approval.”
