Islamabad (TDI): Finance Minister Muhammd Aurangzeb has said that the slain Chinese nationals were employees of an IPP which was in talks with senior government ministers regarding the renegotiation of terms for Independent Power Producers (IPPs).
However, this new statement came from Finance Ministry (Wednesday, October 09) says that these engineers were actually not directly involved in these negotiations.
Two Chinese personnel lost their lives in a terrorist attack near the Karachi airport on Sunday night and one was injured.
The remarks from Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb came as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to ensure full security of Chinese nationals working in the country.
The minister said that the slain men were IPP engineers, adding that he himself and Power Minister Awais Leghari were in negotiation with the IPPs.
According to daily media the minister were requesting them to “re-profile debt and extend the maturities” so Pakistan could reduce power tariffs.
Read More: Karachi’s Blast Leaves Two Chinese Dead
“These were the Chinese IPPs that had pledged to move forward with us, to create a win-win situation for both China and Pakistan. These are the people who stepped forward to help Pakistan, their senior management also flew from Beijing to move the process forward,” media quoted the minister saying as.
He expressed his condolences over the loss of lives and hoped that the dialogue with the Chinese would continue to move forward.
Also Read:IPPs update Military Leaders on Power Sector issues
Pakistan has concluded initial investigation into Sundy’s Karachi attack and reportedly identified the attackers, some arrests were also made in this connection.
The attack is considered as direct assault on Pakistan’s national interest.
Finance Ministry Issues New Details
The Finance Division has clarified news media reports linking the two deceased Chinese engineers killed in an explosion in Karachi, to the ongoing IPP talks.
In a statement, Finance Division said the government has been negotiating with IPPs, including the power plant for which both the Chinese engineers worked.
However, the deceased engineers were not involved in the IPP talks. Hence, any impression created to this effect by media reports is misleading and has no basis.
