Pakistan deports Chinese engineers who scuffled with Police: Report
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LAHORE – Five Chinese engineers, who engaged in a scuffle with on-duty policemen in Kabirwala last week, have been sent back to their home country.
The engineers, working on the M-4 project near Kabirwala, had exchanged harsh words and roughed up the Special Protection Unit (SPU) personnel of the police force who were assigned for their security on April 4, Daily Pakistan has reported.
The development came after the Khanewal district administration wrote a letter to the Punjab government, urging it to declare Xu Ling, the Country Project Manager, Tian Weijun, the Administration Officer, Liu Hui, the Material and Equipment Manager, Wang Yifan, officer for Financial Affairs and Tan Yang, the Field Engineer as the “persona non grata being the reason of this incident”.
“They [Chinese workers] must have realised the sensitivity of their security and should not have taken the law in their hands,” the letter reads.
District Police Officer (DPO) of Khanewal, Rizwan Ahmad Gondal had also recommended the Punjab government to deport the five Chinese workers.
On Saturday, the Chinese engineers invited the police personnel at their camp for dinner where they apologized for their behaviour.
Pictures show personnel in Punjab police uniform enjoying a meal with foreigners identified by some users as Chinese engineers who had clashed with police.
The brawl had started Wednesday when, according to eyewitnesses, the Chinese engineers attempted to leave the camp without security. The verbal aggression soon deteriorated into a physical fight, as the SPU personnel stopped 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 some local people in plain clothes.
The pictures seemed more offensive to some people as they thought the Chinese national appeared to show no regard for Pakistan’s flag that was printed on the vehicle right under his feet.
According to police officials, Chinese engineers and other officials wanted to leave their camp in Khanewal and visit a “red-light” area on Tuesday night. They resorted to agitation when denied permission to leave the camp without being accompanied by security officials.
Later, the Chinese engineers also cut power supply to the police camp established within the main construction camp, the officials added.
On Wednesday morning, the Chinese workers stopped work on the project and abandoned heavy machinery and vehicles on various roads in the area. They also resorted to violence and attacked police in their camp.
