By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday ordered disciplinary action against five officials following an inquiry into a suicide attack in the country’s northwest that killed six people, including five Chinese nationals.
The attack occurred last week when a bus transporting Chinese engineers to a hydroelectric dam project was bombed in Bisham, in the Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The incident led China to demand a thorough investigation and better security for its citizens in Pakistan. The government formed a joint investigation team, which included Chinese investigators, to probe the attack.
The Hazara regional police officer, the Upper Kohistan district police officer (DPO), the Lower Kohistan DPO, the security director for the Dasu Hydropower Project, and the commandant of the KP Special Security Unit will face disciplinary action.
“The inquiry report found these security officials negligent in their duties and should have remained alert on the day of the incident… Disciplinary action will be taken within 15 days,” Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told a news conference in Lahore.
“This is an example that future matters related to Chinese security will be taken more seriously, and no shortcomings will be tolerated.”
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.
Tarar said the prime minister was personally supervising the security of Chinese projects and that an effective system was being developed for their safety.
“The government’s full attention is on maintaining security, and nobody will be allowed to disturb the peace,” the minister said. “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.”
Meanwhile, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, at its annual meeting in Astana, called on Afghanistan to fulfill its commitments to combat terrorism, highlighting the threat international terrorist groups in Afghanistan pose to the region.
A joint statement issued after the meeting said that the presence of international terrorist groups in Afghanistan posed a serious threat to the SCO’s member states.
The statement emphasised the importance of expanding cooperation to address terrorist threats, transnational organised crime, suppression of channels financing terrorism, and illegal migration.
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