ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to construct a blast wall to secure the Chinese embassy following reports of security threats.

Sources at the Capital Development Authority (CDA), which oversees the Diplomatic Enclave, has allowed the construction of a blast wall around the embassy, at the front on 3rd Avenue and at the rear of the embassy.

They said the Chinese embassy reported the threats facing it and, in particular the ambassador, to the Ministry of Interior and the Foreign Office, after which the Foreign Office asked the CDA to assist the embassy in ensuring foolproof security arrangements.

They said officials from the embassy recently visited CDA headquarters, where they asked to be allowed to place preventive security measures on 3rd Avenue, at the front of embassy, and at its rear towards Malpur village.

It was decided that the embassy would construct a steel wall around the back of the embassy while protective barriers will be placed at the front.

“We have allowed the Chinese embassy to construct steel walls and place protective barriers,” mayor and acting CDA chairman Sheikh Anser Aziz confirmed. He added that the CDA approved the construction of a blast wall as the custodian of the enclave, which the embassy will build at its own cost. “However, we are ready to provide all possible assistance to our Chinese friends,” he said.

The embassy had reportedly written to the interior ministry about a security threat, saying that a member of the outlawed East Turkestan Islamic Movement had “sneaked into Pakistan” and posed a threat to the Chinese ambassador.

The group is based in the Xinjiang province in northwest China, and is considered a security challenge for Beijing.

The Chinese diplomatic mission also asked for enhanced security for Chinese nationals working in the country. Following these developments, Pakistan has increased security for Chinese nationals.

“We have already beefed up security of the Diplomatic Enclave... the construction of bomb-proof walls by the Chinese embassy is a good step,” Senior Superintendent of Police (Security) Jamil Hashmi said.

He said Chinese nationals involved with in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor are being provided full security cover, and “whenever the embassy requests special security for the ambassador, we also provide them security cover”.

In 2008, the PPP government had gifted China a 35-acre plot in the Diplomatic Enclave extension for a new Chinese embassy complex on a reciprocal basis. Before shifting into its new complex across 3rd Avenue and towards Malpur village, the embassy had a small building in Diplomatic Enclave-I, which is considered a heavily secured area.

The new extension, however, is open from all sides. The CDA has also allocated a plot in the extension to the Uzbek embassy, and land has also been reserved for a United Nations mission.

A CDA official who asked not to be named said they would allot land for the construction of embassies and buildings in the Diplomatic Enclave extension in the future. However, he added that there was an issue with land possession in the area, as the CDA has yet to get possession of land from Malpur locals due to unresolved matters regarding their benefits against their land.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2017