On April 16, 2023, the Pakistan Police arrested a Chinese engineer working at a hydropower project in Kohistan District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the country on accusations of blasphemy.
The accused was working with China Gezhouba Group Company and was held for blasphemy.
He allegedly commented about the slow pace of work during the Islamic month of Ramzan during an argument with his Pakistani subordinates at his workplace.
In a formal complaint to the police by two Pakistani drivers, the accused has been identified as Mr Tian, who is in charge of heavy machinery and was detained by police late on April 16, 2023, from a residential complex near Dasu Dam to avert a serious situation.
This dam is located 350km north of Islamabad. The Dasu Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam under construction in Kohistan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
According to the South China Morning Post, Tian had allegedly commented about the slow pace of work during the Islamic holy month of Ramzan, which infuriated the Pakistani employees of the company.
As the news of the argument and alleged blasphemy spread, a charged mob of several hundred people, chanting death threats against Tian, gathered outside the residential camp and began pelting it with stones.
Hundreds of people from nearby villages also gathered to block the Karakoram Highway connecting Pakistan to China to protest against the Chinese citizen.
The police intervened and fired aerial warning shots at the mob to prevent a riot. The mob kept creating a ruckus for four hours and only dispersed after the police assured them that Tian would face legal repercussions.
After the incident, the police increased and tightened security for the Chinese nationals working in and around the dam complex.
In addition to the persecution of minorities, Pakistan has been recently under fire for the increase in the number of attacks on Chinese people living there. In September 2022, a gunman opened fire inside a dental clinic in Karachi, Pakistan.
Before this, three Chinese nationals were killed in a suicide bombing attack at the Karachi University in April by the Baloch Liberation Army. This group is hostile to China’s involvement in Balochistan and accuses Pakistan and China of exploiting this province.
In fact, after the string of attacks reported in the recent past, reports emerged on how Pakistan’s security systems are no longer trusted by the Chinese population, particularly the Chinese labourers there. Chinese employees in Pakistan feel frightened and do not trust Pakistan’s security apparatus to keep them safe in an emergency.
In 2022, owing to the repeated attacks on Chinese nationals, a top-level tri-service military group from Pakistan visited China from June 9 to 12 to address various issues with senior military and government officials from Beijing. The attacks on Chinese citizens by Baloch militants were brought up during the discussion.
Beijing requested Qamar Javed Bajwa to take appropriate actions to avoid attacks on Chinese people working in the CPEC facilities in Balochistan Province.
It is noteworthy that China has made significant infrastructural investments in Pakistan. The projects, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), rely heavily on the Chinese workforce and funds.
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