Foreign Security Cell established to protect Chinese nationals who are putting Pakistan on road to prosperity: CM Sindh

Karachi: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the Sindh government has established Foreign Security Cell at Chief Police Office (CPO) in the city with its 31 branches in all district headquarters for foreigners, especially the Chinese nationals’ security – as they were putting Pakistan on the road to prosperity.

The CM chaired a high-level meeting here at CM’s House which was attended by Advisor Law Murtaza Wahab, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Home Secretary Saeed Mangnijo, Provincial Police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon, provincial heads of intelligence agencies and other concerned.

The chief minister said that the incidents like Karachi University where Chinese teachers were attacked in a suicide attack would not be allowed to happen again.

“We have to strengthen the security of all foreign nationals, particularly the Chinese working on CPEC and other projects in the province,” he contended and added that he had given guidelines to the police and other law enforcement agencies to chalk out a detailed foolproof security plan.

Shah underlined that provision of security to Chinese nationals working on CPEC and other projects was a joint responsibility of all the stakeholders concerned.

“Any incident threatening the security of Chinese nationals employed on various projects will have an impact on the national level. The Karachi University incident highlighted the vulnerability of security,” the CM stressed.

The chief minister was told that at present, eight China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects were running in six districts of the province where around 4000 Chinese were working. In 2016, the Police had created a Special Protection Unit (SPU) to provide security cover to CPEC projects based in Sindh.

The Home Secretary told the meeting that Sindh police, Pakistan Army, rangers, Frontier Corps and private security guards were providing security cover to the CPEC projects under the umbrella of Special Security Division (SSD).

It was disclosed that there were 214 projects, including 21 non-CPEC but government sponsored and 193 non-CPEC projects privately sponsored where 2300 Chinese were working.

Inspector General Sindh Police Ghlam Nabi said that a Foreign Information Desk has also been established by the Special Branch at Karachi Airport to register the data of all foreign nationals, including Chinese.

He added that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has been requested to provide 40 dashboard terminals for entry/exit data of foreign nationals and it is yet to be done.

The Chief Minister was told that a well-coordinated security mechanism for Chinese security was being prepared. The prime minister has formulated a national action plan for their (Chinese) security which has been developed for which a task force has been constituted under the ministry of interior.

The Chief Minister directed the IG police to keep the Chinese consulate in the loop for the proposed security arrangement and compiling of the data.