MULTAN: Workers of a Chinese state-owned company on Wednesday blocked roads in Khanewal to protest against police after having a clash with them over some issue.

The workers doing job on Gojra-Khanewal Motorway’s 126-kilometre portion from Dinpur to Khanewal placed heavy machinery on roads linking Kabirwala to Khanewal, Kabirwala to Makhdoompur, Abdul Hakeem to Khanewal and Noorpur to Kabirwala to block traffic.

Hundreds of vehicles including those having families were seen stuck in long queues.

M4 is a north-south motorway which is under construction and will connect M2 with M5. It is 286 kilometre long linking Multan with Pindi Bhattian through Faisalabad.

In a letter to the chief minister, a company official stated that a terrible incident took place in their camp on April 4 at 6:30am when Chinese engineers wanted to go for the daily work but the Special Protection Unit (SPU) of police stopped them from going outside and attacked their camp.

He alleged when the project manager discussed the matter with the unit, they started fighting and pelted the camp with pieces of wood, stones and bricks. He alleged that the SPU in-charge instead of stopping his staff ordered to start their vehicle while trying to hit the Chinese engineers. He said the project manager and engineers were injured and the SPU officials also snatched their mobile phones to destroy the evidence.

Khanewal police PRO said 30 private guards of the company refused to perform their duties due to nonpayment of their wages and a team of the SPU was deployed for the protection of the Chinese workers. He said the Chinese were demanding the shifting of the SPU team from the jurisdiction of their camp besides shifting of their camp located in Noorpur to some other place. They disconnected the electricity of the police camp and tried to go outside without security.

District Police Officer Rizwan Umar Gondal held negotiations with the Chinese who cleared the roads on the assurance of an inquiry.

Multan Commissioner Bilal Butt called a meeting to take up the issue but it could not be held till filing of this report.

Sources said the Chinese workers were not happy for restricting their movement due to security concerns.

On Aug 29, 2016, Multan CPO Azhar Akram was made an officer on special duty on the complaint of Chinese nationals working on the Multan-Sukkur Motorway project, a part of the eastern route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) after they clashed with police deployed for their security.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2018