Pakistan to pay US $11.6 million compensation to Chinese victims of Dasu Hydropower Project terror attack: Information Minister

Islamabad: Pakistani Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry has said that Pakistan will pay US $11.6 million compensation to the Chinese nationals who became victims of Dasu Hydropower Project terror attack in July last year.

Speaking at a news conference after the federal cabinet meeting, the minister informed that the decision had been approved by the federal cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“We will pay US $11.6 million compensation to the Chinese nationals who died during the Dasu Hydropower Project terror attack,” he maintained.

The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet had on Friday as a goodwill gesture on the government level approved payment of US $ 11.6 million compensation to the affected Chinese nationals of Dasu Hydropower Project incident.

Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin had chaired the online meeting of the committee Friday and granted approval.

This week, China said the work on Dasu Hydropower Project in Pakistan had resumed. Ten Chinese nationals died while 28 others were injured in the attack.

“The Dasu Hydropower Project in Pakistan has resumed work,” said Zhao Lijian, spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry.

A bus carrying Chinese workers in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province had come under attack on July 14, 2021. The Chinese workers and accompanying Pakistani staff were proceeding to their workplace for an ongoing project when the incident took place. Four Pakistani nationals had also lost their lives in the attack.

The Dasu hydropower project is part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a US $65 billion project aimed at connecting China’s northwestern Xinjiang province to the port of Gwadar in Pakistan’s Balochistan province.

Beijing had asked Pakistan to thoroughly investigate the incident, and arrest the perpetrators to protect the Chinese personnel and projects.

Pakistan is a close ally of China, and a large number of Chinese nationals are working in the country to supervise the infrastructure projects.