ISLAMABAD: Prime Minis­ter Nawaz Sharif on Friday consulted Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif on the security of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.

This was the second meeting between the two in a week.

“Matters relating to security of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects came under discussion during the meeting in addition to a conversation on the prevailing internal security situation,” an official spokesman said.

Pakistan and China earlier this year launched the $46 billion CPEC, which includes connectivity, energy and infrastructure projects. The corridor estimated to be about 3,000km long would link Gwadar port to China’s Xinjiang province.

Unrest has been a major source of concern for the CPEC and the military soon after the inauguration of the project during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Islamabad had announced the establishment of a 10,000-strong special force for protecting the CPEC projects and the Chinese workers associated with them.

The army chief had while visiting construction work on a highway project in July vowed to make the CPEC a reality despite the challenges. The highway project, which is part of the CPEC, has faced over a hundred security-related incidents since its launch in March 2014 in which almost a couple of dozen workers, both civilian and military, have lost their lives.

The Chinese have been closely following the security situation in the Balochistan province.

The director-general, department of external security affairs at the Chinese foreign ministry, Liu Guangyuan, was here last week. He held discussions with Pakistani officials on security matters.

Earlier in June, Chinese Vice-Minister for Security Dong Haizhou visited Pakistan for security-related briefings on the project.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2015

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