Pakistan scrambles to protect China’s ‘Silk Road’ pioneers

ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR: Chastened by the IS’s claim to have killed two kidnapped Chinese teachers, Pakistan is beefing up security around Chinese citizens streaming into the country on the back of Beijing’s “Belt and Road” infrastructure splurge.

China has often urged Pakistan to improve security after pledging around $57 billion to build power plants, railways, and roads that will cross the Himalayas to connect western China with Gwadar.

Pakistani officials have outlined to Reuters extensive security plans that include thousands-strong police protection forces, tighter monitoring of Chinese nationals, and in the province of Balochistan - where the two teachers were kidnapped on May 24 - a review of security arrangements. The protection forces will buttress a 15,000-strong army division set up specifically to safeguard projects in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative, which has been credited with rejuvenating Pakistan’s $300 billion economy.

“We are already alert, but this incident has made us extra vigilant over Chinese security,” said Amin Yousafzai, deputy inspector general of police for the southern province of Sindh, which is home to about 50 million people. Sindh is raising a protection unit of about 2,600 police officers to help safeguard 4,000 Chinese working on CPEC projects, and another 1,000 working in other businesses.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which signed billions of dollars in contracts with Chinese companies, is also conducting a census of Chinese nationals and raising a force of about 4,200 officers to protect foreigners. Balochistan would “review the whole security arrangement” and Chinese nationals who come in a private capacity should inform the authorities about their activities, said Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, spokesman for the provincial government.

The number of militant attacks in Pakistan has fallen sharply in recent years, but violent extremist groups still pose a threat, and in Balochistan separatists opposed to CPEC also carry out attacks.

The IS killings were a rare attack on Chinese nationals in Pakistan, but the incident has unnerved Islamabad and the growing Chinese community. Miftah Ismail, a state minister involved in CPEC planning, said Pakistan had devoted huge resources to improving security and Chinese investors should not be put off by a one-off attack.

“The country’s security situation has improved,” Ismail said. The scale of the task facing security agencies is increasing by the day as more Chinese entrepreneurs arrive to set up businesses.