KARACHI: Around 160 ex-servicemen have been hired as part of the Sindh police’s plan to raise a 2,000-strong commando force for the security of Chinese working in the province on development projects including those related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, it emerged on Tuesday.

A senior official told Dawn that the Monday bomb attack targeting a Chinese engineer pushed the authorities to expedite the process to establish the special force.

He said that a couple of months back the Sindh apex committee had decided to raise a special force comprising 2,000 ex-army personnel for the security of the Chinese nationals associated with the CPEC-related and other development projects in the province. Since then, two advertisements had been published in the local dailies and 160 men had been recruited.

“The process has been expedited and efforts are on to raise the force within the shortest possible time,” Inspector General of Police A. D. Khowaja told Dawn. “There is a reason behind recruitment of ex-servicemen. We immediately need that force to serve the purpose. There is an advantage of hiring armed forces’ soldiers that they don’t need much training. That’s why the first batch of 160 personnel is set to join the force after a very basic police training of only few weeks.”

The number of Chinese nationals living in Karachi and other cities of Sindh or those visiting several places of the province has grown to a large extent in the recent months due to the association of their companies with the CPEC.

It was in August 2015 when the Chinese Consul General Ma Yaou had called on the then Sindh IGP at the Central Police Office (CPO) mainly to know the security plan for his countrymen.

Since then, a number of plans had been discussed and a final one was decided during the meeting of the Sindh apex committee, which was presided over by Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and attended by Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad.

The Monday bomb attack which left a Chinese national, his local driver and a private guard wounded on the National Highway triggered a fresh debate about the security of Chinese people. But, the Sindh police authorities were confident to meet the requirement.

“The foreign security cell of the Sindh police is currently looking after the security affairs of Chinese nationals,” said a source privy to the details of the Sindh police’s plan. “Since the new force is being raised, the foreign security cell of the Sindh police is tasked with the Chinese nationals’ security in coordination with the rapid response force working on nine different CPEC-related projects in the province.”

Meanwhile, chairing a high-level meeting at the CPO on Tuesday, the IGP issued directives to Karachi police chief Mushtaq Maher to personally head the investigation of recent high-profile cases, including the Monday attack on a Chinese national.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2016