QUETTA: As whereabouts of two Chinese nationals kidnapped in Quetta’s Jinnah Town on May 24 are still unknown, 11 Chinese nationals living in the same vicinity of the city have been shifted to Karachi for their departure to China.

The abducted duo — a man and a woman — were teachers at a Chinese-language centre. Three armed men took them away forcibly when they came out of the centre. They also tried to overpower another Chinese woman but she ran away. A man present at the site attempted to resist the kidnapping but he was shot by a kidnapper.

Since the kidnapping the 11 Chinese nationals — three men and eight women — had been living in the Jinnah town under tight security.

Sources said that officials of the Chinese consulate in Karachi met these 11 people earlier this week and after discussion it was decided that they would return to their country.

Abdul Razzaq Cheema, Quetta’s Regional Police Of­ficer, told Dawn that these Chinese nationals had been living in Quetta for almost a year.

He said after kidnapping of the two Chinese nationals police had increased security of Chinese and other foreign nationals working on different projects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, NGOs and United Nations’ organisations in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan.

He said two families of South Korean nationals also lived in Jinnah Town, adding that after the kidnapping they were being provided security by the police. He said the South Korean nationals had been living in Quetta for four years.

He said efforts were under way for the safe recovery of the two kidnapped Chinese nationals. However, he accep­ted that the police had so far found no clue about them.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2017