LAHORE – Five Chinese engineers, who engaged in a scuffle with on-dutypolicemen in Kabirwala last week, have been sent back to their home country.
The engineers, working on the M-4 project near Kabirwala, had exchangedharsh words and roughed up the Special Protection Unit (SPU) personnel ofthe police force who were assigned for their security on April 4, DailyPakistan has reported.
The development came after the Khanewal district administration wrote aletter to the Punjab government, urging it to declare Xu Ling, the CountryProject Manager, Tian Weijun, the Administration Officer, Liu Hui, theMaterial and Equipment Manager, Wang Yifan, officer for Financial Affairsand Tan Yang, the Field Engineer as the “persona non grata being the reasonof this incident”.
“They [Chinese workers] must have realised the sensitivity of theirsecurity and should not have taken the law in their hands,” the letterreads.
District Police Officer (DPO) of Khanewal, Rizwan Ahmad Gondal had alsorecommended the Punjab government to deport the five Chinese workers.
On Saturday, the Chinese engineers invited the police personnel at theircamp for dinner where they apologized for their behaviour.
Pictures show personnel in Punjab police uniform enjoying a meal withforeigners identified by some users as Chinese engineers who had clashedwith police.
The brawl had started Wednesday when, according to eyewitnesses, theChinese engineers attempted to leave the camp without security. The verbalaggression soon deteriorated into a physical fight, as the SPU personnelstopped them from leaving the premises.
A video showed a Chinese national standing on the bonnet of a police van,another video showed several Chinese nationals trashing policemen and somelocal people in plain clothes.
The pictures seemed more offensive to some people as they thought theChinese national appeared to show no regard for Pakistan’s flag that wasprinted on the vehicle right under his feet.
According to police officials, Chinese engineers and other officials wantedto leave their camp in Khanewal and visit a “red-light” area on Tuesdaynight. They resorted to agitation when denied permission to leave the campwithout being accompanied by security officials.
Later, the Chinese engineers also cut power supply to the police campestablished within the main construction camp, the officials added.
On Wednesday morning, the Chinese workers stopped work on the project andabandoned heavy machinery and vehicles on various roads in the area. Theyalso resorted to violence and attacked police in their camp.