Engineer Arrested For Blasphemy After ‘Asking Staff To Work While Fasting During Ramadan’
Engineer Arrested For Blasphemy After ‘Asking Staff To Work While Fasting During Ramadan’
A Chinese engineer, identified as Mr Tian has been arrested by the Pakistan police for alleged blasphemy against Islam after asking his Muslim staff to work faster while fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.
Tian, an employee of China Gezhouba Group Company, was arrested on Sunday while working on a hydropower project in Pakistan’s Kohistan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Following a formal complaint to the police by two Pakistani skip drivers against Tian, who was in charge of heavy machinery,” he was detained late on Sunday from a residential camp for Chinese workers near Dasu, about 350 kilometres north of Islamabad, to avert a serious situation.
Dasu Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam being built in Pakistan’s Kohistan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. The main civil works have been completed by China’s Gezhouba Group Company Limited.
According to the South China Morning Post, Tian allegedly commented on the slow pace of work during the Islamic holy month of Ramzan, which enraged the company’s Pakistani employees. As word of the argument and alleged blasphemy spread, a horde of several hundred people erupted, chanting death threats.
Hundreds of people from nearby villages also gathered to protest the Chinese citizen by blocking the Karakoram Highway, which connects Pakistan and China.
To prevent a riot, the police intervened and fired aerial warning shots at the mob. The mob remained agitated for nearly four hours before dispersing after police assured them that the Chinese engineer would face legal consequences.
Meanwhile, following the aforementioned incident, the Chinese nationals working on the World Bank-financed Dasu hydropower project have had their security tightened.
Pakistan has recently been under fire for increasing attacks on Chinese people living there. In September last year, an unidentified gunman opened fire inside a dental clinic in Karachi, killing a Chinese national and injuring two others. Three Chinese nationals were killed in a suicide bombing at Karachi University in April by the separatist Baloch Liberation Army.
In 2021, at least 10 people lost their lives and 39 were injured when a bus carrying staff members working on Dasu Dam was blown up. Of the four dead, four were Chinese nationals. Reports have emerged that Pakistan’s security systems are no longer trusted by the Chinese population. Last year, a top-level military group from Pakistan visited China to discuss the attacks on Chinese citizens by Baloch militants.
Beijing has asked Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to take appropriate measures to prevent attacks on Chinese workers on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) facilities in Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
It is worth noting that China has made significant infrastructure investments in Pakistan. The projects, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), are heavily reliant on Chinese manpower and funds.
