Chinese worker accused of blasphemy in Pakistan’s Kohistan region
Islamabad: Protests broke out in northern Pakistan after a Chinese national was accused of blasphemy.
Police took the suspect into protective custody after hundreds of people blocked roads, demanding authorities handover the Chinese national.
Senior Pakistani journalist Mubashir Zaidi, who is associates with Turkey’s TRT, said that an engineer of a Chinese company in Dasu was accused of blasphemy following a heated dispute over slow pace of work during Ramadan.He said the police have taken the engineer in protective custody after scores of labourers attacked the engineer’s office.
Local media reported that a large number of locals in Barseen area of Kohistan (KPK) had come out on the streets to demand the arrest of the Chinese national.
A camp of Chinese workers was pelted with stones by the frenzied mob.
The local media reported that security forces shot fires into air stop the protesters from who marching towards the camp.
Preliminary reports suggested that the Chinese officer had scolded some employees for spending more than the designated time for prayers which led to an argument and a blasphemy accusation.
Chinese engineers and laborers are working on various power projects in the Kohistan and Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan.