Daily Times

Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed updated China’s Minister for Public Security Zhao Kezhi on the progress made into the investigation into the Dasu Hydropower bus bomb blast.

Sheikh Rasheed expressed deep sorrow over the incident in which several people had lost their lives in a telephonic discussion lasting more than half an hour on Saturday.

Both the ministers decided to complete the investigation into the accident as early as possible and expressed that no power on earth could turn relations between the two countries sour.

Sheikh Rasheed said both China and Pakistan were iron brothers and time-tested friends.

He told Kezhi that a high-level probe into the incident was underway on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s instructions, and that soon the investigation would be complete as full cooperation was being extended to the team of Chinese experts investigating the accident.

Rasheed also confirmed that foolproof security would be provided to the Chinese working in Pakistan to prevent any such incidents to the Chinese minister.

On last Wednesday , nine Chinese workers were among 12 people killed when a blast on a bus sent it careering down a ravine in Kohistan.

The bus was carrying Chinese engineers, surveyors and mechanical staff to the Dasu dam site in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is under construction.

A further 28 Chinese nationals were also injured.

The Chinese embassy in Pakistan in a statement had said that “a certain project of a Chinese firm in Pakistan suffered an attack, which caused the deaths of Chinese nationals”.

Security of Chinese workers has long been an issue of concern in Pakistan, where Beijing has poured in tens of billions of dollars in recent years, and large numbers of Chinese nationals are now based in the country to supervise and build infrastructure projects.