Islamabad — “We have never seen a Chinese reaction like this one,” says regional security affairs analyst Ahmed Rashid, referring to Beijing’s persistent public demand that Pakistan ensure the safety of Chinese nationals since a March 26 suicide attack killed five Chinese workers there.
As Pakistan fights a resurgent wave of terrorism that has killed hundreds of local civilians and security personnel this year, officials insist they can keep a few thousand Chinese nationals safe.
A major ally of China, Pakistan has seen billions of dollars in much-needed energy and infrastructure projects pour in through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor — the flagship project of Beijing’s global Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.
The project, popularly known as CPEC, however, has suffered as Islamist militants and Baloch insurgents fighting the Pakistani state target Chinese nationals and projects.
Since 2017, at least 19 Chinese nationals have been killed in Pakistan. The March suicide attack in Besham, a town in northwestern Pakistan, came days after militants stormed a government compound in Gwadar, home to a Chinese-built deep-sea port in the southwest.
Keen to save one of its most critical bilateral relationships, Pakistan quickly revamped protocols, promising “fool-proof” security for Chinese citizens in meetings with the Chinese leadership.
In June, Pakistan also announced a new nationwide anti-terrorism campaign after a visiting senior Chinese official told Pakistani politicians “the primary factor shaking the confidence of Chinese investors is the security situation.”
“This is a very serious issue because for the first time we have had in the last few months some very strong, tough statements from the Chinese, criticizing its biggest ally in the region, Pakistan,” said Rashid.
What’s new?
A dedicated military division and special provincial police units provide security to Chinese nationals and projects in Pakistan. Local intelligence units keep a record of where the foreigners live and work. Chinese nationals usually move between cities in bullet-proof vehicles with a police escort. One percent of the cost of any project involving Chinese workers is budgeted for security.
“There is pressure,” a counterterrorism officer said while speaking to VOA on background about the new push in Pakistan to ensure the safety of Chinese personnel and projects.
Large-scale projects are often cut off from nearby towns to limit public access, while locals hired to work at sites secured with barbed wires and cameras must clear police background checks.
Since the Besham attack, the Ministry of Interior has created a so-called foreigners security cell to streamline coordination among provinces. A new Special Protection Unit of police in Islamabad now protects Chinese nationals in the capital.
Police personnel are undergoing renewed training and having equipment audited, while security checks on roads near where the Chinese live or work have increased, officials tell VOA.
“Another element that has been added since then [the Besham attack] is kinetic,” said a senior provincial law enforcement officer speaking to VOA on background. “There is improved record-keeping of area residents. So that we are aware of who lives there.”
“The probability of local support and facilitation is very high in our spectrum, and we try to keep identifying such people so that we can preempt it,” the official said.
Chinese help
Pakistani officials reject reports that China has sought to deploy its own security personnel in Pakistan but say law enforcement cooperation between the two countries already exists.
“They have extended support to the establishment of SPU [Special Protection Unit],” Aitzaz Goraya, provincial counterterrorism chief in Baluchistan, told VOA. “They have promised some equipment for it, too. Some has arrived and some is on the way. Such a process is ongoing, at least in Balochistan.”
Authorities say they hope to complete a “safe city” program in Gwadar by the end of the year. The project includes installing hundreds of cameras controlled from a centralized command center in the key port town to surveil residents as guards keep an eye on the situation from watchtowers.
Resentment
Heightened security for Chinese workers is also a source of resentment among locals in parts of Pakistan. In Gwadar, where the Pakistani military controls security, impoverished locals have staged mass protests in recent years, complaining of a lack of involvement in Chinese-funded development projects, and of loss of livelihood and limited mobility.
“All the shops and roadside restaurants close along the five- to six-kilometer-long distance when the Chinese travel from the port to the airport. This happens two to three times a week,” said Naeem Ghafoor, a local activist.
The new nationwide anti-terror offensive named Azm-e-Istehkam faces intense opposition in the militancy-hit northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where residents have experienced mass displacement and destruction of infrastructure in past military operations.
Security affairs expert Rasheed says Pakistan cannot ensure the security of Chinese workers without providing basic facilities to its own citizens first.
“There is a chronic need to involve civil society,” said Rashid. “It’s not just that the army can deal with this on its own or the police can. This needs development. It needs better facilities.”
Fulfilling decades-old promises of development may still take years as Pakistan struggles to bring its economy on track with bailouts from the International Monetary Fund.
Still, Goraya believes Pakistan can keep its promise of providing security to the Chinese.
“They [terrorists] don’t have anything that we don’t,” Goraya said. “If we follow the SOPs [Standard Operating Procedures] and don’t deviate from it, we can do it.”
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