Chinese nationals were asked to engage private security companies.
LAHORE: The Punjab Home Department has ordered Chinese nationals residing in the province or working for private businesses to engage private security companies of the A category for their security in response to an uptick in terrorist attacks across the nation. To discuss the security of the Chinese nationals working on public and private projects in the province, the home department and police met on Thursday.
In order to ensure the safety of foreign workers on various projects of national significance, the Punjab government established the Special Protection Unit (SPU) in 2014. The SPU hired 3,336 security officers, 187 drivers, 20 wireless operators, 244 former soldiers in the ranks of senior security officer to chief security officer, and seven former army officers in the ranks of additional director and deputy director.
Professional trainers provided the staff with six months of intense training at four police training institutions while keeping in mind the requirements of the work. Currently, 7,567 Chinese workers at four CPEC and 27 non-CPEC projects in the province are being protected by 3,829 officers and employees of the SPU and 2,552 attached people from districts. Additionally, they are securing the 24 camps and 70 dwellings where Chinese people are residing in the province.
According to SPU DIG Agha Yousuf, the security of the Chinese personnel working on government projects has been strengthened further as a result of an increase in terrorist incidents in the nation. He said that the SPU was solely used to protect Chinese citizens working on CPEC and other government-related projects, and that anybody else entering the country alone or working on private enterprises was told to engage security firms.
He said that hundreds of Chinese nationals worked for private businesses, and that security measures were being implemented to protect them. The hiring of A category security firms for the protection of Chinese people has been ordered by the government, he added, who has also set standard operating procedures (SOPs).
In addition, Mr. Yousuf said that while the government was paying for the security of Chinese nationals working on government projects, it was not possible to deploy SPU personnel everywhere and that it was not possible for the government to fund the security of Chinese nationals working for private businesses. Chinese nationals working for private enterprises or operating their own businesses, he added, would need to hire their own security, and the home department would assess the firm.
