LAHORE  - The Punjab police has demanded Rs 1.2 billion for the security of foreigners working on different projects across the province, The Nation has learnt.
A new vacancy of deputy inspector general (DIG) for foreigners’ security and projects was created for the forces to be deputed on the foreigners’ security during the previous fiscal year.
A summary forwarded by the inspector general of police (IGP) to the Home Department demanded the government allow recruitment of staff comprising 2,500 officials and allocate funds to complete the exercise.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif a couple of months back announced that as the foreign investment was knocking at the doors of the province, it was essential to make foolproof security arrangements for the engineers and other foreigners working here as the nation was fighting a war on terror. He had asserted that China, Turkey and other countries were providing financial as well as technical cooperation for the development of energy, infrastructure and other sectors, it was responsibility of the provincial government to provide security cover to the foreigners working on various projects. He had also suggested formation of a special squad for the purpose.
The Home Department forwarded the summary to the CM Office for seeking approval for the funds. The inspector general of police had initiated the file. He had also stated that 100 vehicles, drivers and other clerical staff would have to be recruited for the security of the citizens of other countries working on projects in Pakistan.
The Home Department had agreed on recruiting the staff besides purchasing double-cabin vehicles for the force. It had been decided that the funds would be allocated in the coming fiscal year.
An officer of the Punjab government revealed 482 foreigners from different countries had been working on power projects. He said that after the approval of the CM, funds would be released to the provincial police. He said foreign investment was essential for progress of the country, so the government had decided to form a new squad to ensure foreigners’ security. Engineers from different countries were reluctant to work on the ongoing projects, so the pace of work on different projects, especially power sector, remained much slow, the officer remarked. The government had to pay additional funds for the projects facing delay for security reasons, he held.
China’s investment in Pakistan, he said, was much less as compared to direct investment of the US, UK and other western countries. The PML-N government approached China for investment that agreed to make a huge investment worth 34 billion US dollars in the country. He said the energy sector was to see a major uplift with no loadshedding in the near future, so the Punjab government’s plan to establish a separate security force for foreigners was a pragmatic approach, he held. He said Chinese President Xi Jinping who went to India wanted to start his tour from Pakistan, but it did not happen owing to turmoil and political crisis. The Chinese prime minister had conveyed his concerns to the visiting PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari in Beijing about the political situation in Islamabad and had desired that the dispute should be resolved before the Chinese president’s visit to Pakistan.
It is to be recalled that Dr Warren Weinstein, an American national and USAID contractor working for JE Austen, was kidnapped in 2011. On February 19, 2012, two foreign nationals, one German and the other Italian working for an NGO, were abducted from Multan by some banned outfit and their whereabouts are still unknown. Moreover, in addition to tens of others, sons of former premier Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and former Punjab governor Salman Taseer were also abducted and the government agencies have so far failed to trace them.