ISLAMABAD: A Chinese engineer was arrested Sunday night and charges pressed against him after a mob tried to attack him for allegedly making blasphemous remarks during an argument at a worksite with local labourers in northern Pakistan.
Security officials identified the man as “Mr Tian,” head of heavy transport at the China Gezhouba Group Company constructing the Dasu hydropower project in Upper Kohistan district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
He was shifted to Abbottabad, a garrison hill station 120km north of Islamabad, in an army helicopter to keep him safe from religious fanatics, police said Monday. He will face police investigation and trial in a magistrate’s court.
Trouble erupted Saturday when the Chinese engineer asked his local staff to work when they had gathered to offer the afternoon prayers at the workplace, leading to an argument. “He made insulting remarks and derogatory gestures against Allah and the Prophet,” states the police report.
Word spread fast and protesters came Sunday to the project site, gathering outside the Chinese workers’ camp eager for revenge over the alleged blasphemy. Police arrived before the situation got out of hand, fired shots in the air and whisked away the accused foreigner.
Streets protests were seen in the area. People blocked the Karakoram highway linking China with Pakistan. The demonstrations subsided early Monday following the arrest.
Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Pakistan and is punishable by death. Suspects are often attacked and sometimes lynched by mobs. In February 2022, a middle-aged man was stoned to death over the alleged desecration of the Quran in a remote village of Khanewal district.
A Sri Lankan factory manager was beaten to death by co-workers in Punjab province in December 2021 after he was falsely accused of insulting Islam. A court later sentenced six men to death for lynching the foreigner.
Chinese engineers and labourers are working on various power projects in the Kohistan and Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan. Beijing has invested billions of dollars in Pakistan in recent years, building roads, communication networks, ports, and power plants under its global Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Security officials identified the man as “Mr Tian,” head of heavy transport at the China Gezhouba Group Company constructing the Dasu hydropower project in Upper Kohistan district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
He was shifted to Abbottabad, a garrison hill station 120km north of Islamabad, in an army helicopter to keep him safe from religious fanatics, police said Monday. He will face police investigation and trial in a magistrate’s court.
Trouble erupted Saturday when the Chinese engineer asked his local staff to work when they had gathered to offer the afternoon prayers at the workplace, leading to an argument. “He made insulting remarks and derogatory gestures against Allah and the Prophet,” states the police report.
Word spread fast and protesters came Sunday to the project site, gathering outside the Chinese workers’ camp eager for revenge over the alleged blasphemy. Police arrived before the situation got out of hand, fired shots in the air and whisked away the accused foreigner.
Streets protests were seen in the area. People blocked the Karakoram highway linking China with Pakistan. The demonstrations subsided early Monday following the arrest.
Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Pakistan and is punishable by death. Suspects are often attacked and sometimes lynched by mobs. In February 2022, a middle-aged man was stoned to death over the alleged desecration of the Quran in a remote village of Khanewal district.
A Sri Lankan factory manager was beaten to death by co-workers in Punjab province in December 2021 after he was falsely accused of insulting Islam. A court later sentenced six men to death for lynching the foreigner.
Chinese engineers and labourers are working on various power projects in the Kohistan and Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan. Beijing has invested billions of dollars in Pakistan in recent years, building roads, communication networks, ports, and power plants under its global Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).