ISLAMABAD   -   Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal has said that security mechanism prevalent during 2013-18 was not adopted by the previous government and unnecessary hurdles were created in the issuance of visas to Chinese nationals.

Should the security mechanism for CPEC formulated during 2013-18 has been adopted by the previous government , there would have been no security risk to Chinese nationals now, the minister said  this while presiding over a meeting here.

While    reviewing the security progress on CPEC projects, the minister said that unnecessary hurdles were created in the issuance of visas to Chinese citizens, official source told the Nation. Visas’ issuance to Chinese nationals was   delayed for months during the previous regime, the source said.

The meeting was attended by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs secretary, Ministry of Interior secretary, and other relevant stakeholders.

The meeting was informed that during the three and half year’s tenure of the PTI government, meeting of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)’s Joint Working Group on Security was held only twice.

The minister expressed concern that Pakistan’s side of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)’s Joint Working Group on Security has not been meeting frequently and directed to regularly convene its meetings on a monthly basis.

The minister emphasized the need for building a safe and secure environment for CPEC and to effectively tackle kinetic/non-kinetic challenges.

“CPEC is a flagship project of Pakistan & China Economic Cooperation which can enable Pakistan to become an industrial economy. It is unfortunate that the momentum of 2013-18 couldn’t be sustained,” said the minister.

Minister Iqbal stated that National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) should function as per their laid down role and objectives to provide govt with in-depth assessment of security challenges that are grounded in socio-economic of the country. It will help the government to expand its security lens by addressing socio-economic grievances of the people.

Our security lens must also focus on limiting the vulnerability of our youth towards violence, extremism and propaganda, said the minister, and vowed to undertake measures to ensure that youth is not alienated in socioeconomic development process especially in less developed regions of the country.

The minister   also directed all line ministries to ensure that laid down security protocols are followed by Chinese working on CPEC.                                                                                                                                                    Furthermore, the minister stated that propaganda against CPEC is an attempt to deny people of less developed regions in Pakistan  from positive socio-economic externalises that will stem from CPEC.

It is noted that after the recent incident in Karachi, the government had decided to ensure foolproof security of Chinese working across the country. The minister also directed the Ministry of Information secretary to engage local regional media so that youth of Balochistan should be saved from falling   prey to extremism.