Interior minister forms committee to plan establishment of safe city project in Dasu-Chilas

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi Saturday formed a committee to prepare a plan for the establishment of the Dasu-Chilas Safe City project in order to ensure foolproof security of Chinese nationals, according to Radio Pakistan.

Chairing a meeting in Islamabad, he said the committee comprising Inspector General Police Islamabad, RPO Hazara, and WAPDA representatives should collectively chalk out a comprehensive plan within fifteen days.

Terror attack near Besham: Govt to pay $2.5m compensation to Chinese nationals’ heirs

He said the aim of Safe City is not just to install cameras, but a system that is equipped with modern technology and artificial intelligence tools.

He emphasized its implementation on the pattern of Islamabad and Lahore.

Mohsin Naqvi said the Safe City project will ensure surveillance and security of the whole area.

The Interior Minister said the security of Chinese nationals working for the development of Pakistan is our responsibility, assuring no effort will be spared in this regard.

Pakistan is paying compensation of about $2.5 million to the heirs of five Chinese nationals who lost their lives in a terror attack near Besham, Swat (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) on March 25, 2024, well-informed sources told Business Recorder.

Terror attacks on engineers: China’s HEI issues ‘force majeure’ notice

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, sources said, scheduled to visit Beijing next month with hopes of furthering cooperation in every field and launching the second phase of CPEC, has directed the concerned authorities that compensatory payments to Chinese victims of the Besham incident be cleared forthwith.

The Chinese government had asked for a thorough probe into the deadly terrorist attack on a bus carrying its nationals working on the Dasu hydropower project and to provide foolproof security for its citizens after the deadly attack.

Plot to kill five Chinese engineers hatched in Afghanistan: DG ISPR

Earlier this month, ISPR spokesperson Major General Ahmed Sharif said at a press conference that a suicide bomb attack in March in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Besham, that killed five Chinese engineers, was planned in neighboring Afghanistan, and that the bomber was an Afghan national. However, the Taliban Defence Ministry rejected Pakistan’s claim that Afghans were involved in an attack on Chinese engineers.

In January 2022, Pakistan paid $11.6 million to 36 Chinese nationals (dead and injured) in a terror attack on the Dasu hydropower project.