Pakistan scrambles to protect China's new Silk Road pioneers
Security will be stepped up in wake of Islamic State claim that it killed two Chinese kidnapped in Quetta
Chastened by Islamic State’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 Initiative”.
China has often urged Pakistan to improve security since pledging around US$57 billion to build power plants, railways, and roads that will cross the Himalayas to connect western China with Pakistan’s Arabian Sea port of 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 Baluchistan - 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), which has been credited with rejuvenating Pakistan’s US$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.