—Photo: INP
Peshawar: Police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kohistan district detained a Chinese engineer working on the Dasu Hydropower Project after he was accused of blasphemy.
The foreign news agency “Reuters” quoted police official Naseeruddin Khan as saying that on Sunday afternoon, when the crowd gathered, the police moved and the officers took the man to a safe place.
Hundreds of people gathered again on Monday morning and stormed the central district police station, Naseeruddin added, adding that the protesters believed that the Chinese man was hiding in the police station.
He said that the authorities had transferred the Chinese person to another district by military helicopter before the possible extreme action of the angry crowd. The man was charged and has refused to give a statement, police officials said.
According to another foreign news agency, AFP, the project’s engineer was charged with blasphemy after he objected to the “slow pace of work” during the month of Ramadan, officials said.
“The workers said they were fasting but not because work was slowing down, leading to bitter arguments with supervisors,” a police official told AFP on condition of anonymity. was exchanged.
“According to the workers, the Chinese engineer uttered insulting words during the verbal abuse,” he said.
The Chinese engineer was identified as transport supervisor ‘Tian’ in a written complaint filed with the police, adding that “the Chinese national has been kept in a safe place as a precautionary measure,” Mohammad Nazir, a police official in Dasu, told AFP. was taken.”
On the other hand, the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad has not yet responded to a request for comment on the said matter.
A local administration official in Dasu said army and paramilitary forces were deployed “to ensure the safety of the Chinese engineers”.
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