RAWALPINDI: A Chinese police officer has started investigating the Chinese coworkers of Pingzhi Liu, an engineer, who went missing on December 20, 2017, while working on a tunnel at the Karot power project in Kahuta.

According to sources, Wang Yang from the Chinese embassy in Islamabad visited the power project and questioned Mr Liu’s Chinese coworkers.

Later, he met the senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rawalpindi and other officers and reviewed the ongoing investigation into the case.

A police official said the Chinese police officer accompanied by a translator had been assigned the task of communicating with the local authorities as the Chinese workers at the site were unable to communicate with them due to language barriers.

More than 1,100 Chinese workers/experts are working on seven development projects in the Rawalpindi division. Of these, nearly 800 are engaged in six projects in the Rawalpindi district, including the Karot power project.

Since Mr Liu went missing, law enforcement and intelligence agencies have been trying to find a clue to him.

According to sources, the police have investigated a large number of Pakistanis who had worked with Mr Liu in the past besides interviewing some private contractors. In addition, the police used sniffing dogs and divers suspecting that he might have drowned in the nearby river where he was working on a tunnel.

Mr Liu had arrived in Islamabad from Beijing on February 13, 2016, and travelled back to Beijing on Dec 11 the same year. He returned to Islamabad on March 27, 2017, and went missing on December 20.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2018