Pakistan announces disciplinary action against senior officials after suicide attack on Chinese workers

Security personnel inspect the site of a suicide attack near Besham city in the Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on March 26, 2024. (AFP/File)

• Information minister says these officials had been negligent in their duties and should have been more vigilant
• He calls the decision an example that future matters related to Chinese security will be taken more seriously

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar announced on Saturday the government has decided to take disciplinary action against senior officials responsible to provide security to Chinese workers after five of them were killed in a deadly militant attack last month in the northwest of the country.
The incident took place when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives laden vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers which was on its way from Islamabad to their camp in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province where they were working on a hydropower project in Dasu.
The killing of the Chinese nationals along with their local driver prompted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to conduct a series of security meetings in which he instructed the relevant authorities to prevent such attacks in the future.
Sharif also constituted an inquiry committee to investigate the incident.
“We will not let anyone disrupt the peace [in the country],” Tarar said while addressing a news conference in Lahore. “Our armed forces and law enforcement agencies are committed to eradicating terrorism and are playing their role with full intent and dedication to uproot this scourge from its roots.”
“The inquiry committee sent its report in which the prime minister ordered disciplinary action against some officers, saying they had been negligent in their duties and should have been more vigilant,” he continued.
The information minister said these officials included the regional police officer Hazara division, district police officers in upper and lower Kohistan district, director security at Dasu hydropower project and commandant special security unit in KP.
Tarar informed that disciplinary action would be taken against them within the next 15 days.
“This is an example that future matters related to Chinese security will be taken more seriously, and no shortcomings will be tolerated,” he said.
He also pointed out the prime minister was taking personal interest in the security of Chinese workers in Pakistan, and the government was trying to devise a comprehensive and effective mechanism to protect them against such attacks.