Islamabad: Pakistan is raising a 17,280-strong force to provide security to the ambitious USD 46 billion dollar China-Pakistan economic corridor project that passes through the restive Balochistan province.
Minister of State for Interior Muhammad Balighur Rehman told the lawmakers in the Senate today that recruitment was going on to raise the force of 17,280 personnel.
Twenty-two additional wings of Civil Armed Forces will be raised to guard the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Project (CPEC), the minister said.
Responding to a calling attention notice moved by Senator Abdul Qayyum, he said 17,280 personnel will be hired for this purpose, while over 3,000 personnel have already been hired.
He said funds have also been allocated for the procurement of arms and ammunition for these wings. Pakistan's Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif last month met top Chinese leadership in Beijing and had assured them to provide full security to the project as well as Chinese nationals.
A Chinese engineer was injured in a roadside blast in Karachi on May 30 claimed by a little-known separatist group that vowed to derail CPEC.
Earlier, the Convener Special Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, senator Taj Haider, laid the second interim report of the committee on CPEC in the House.
The ambitious 3,000-kilometre CPEC project was launched last year to link western China to southern Pakistan through a network of roads, railways and pipelines.
