BEIJING: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Monday voiced concern over Indian conspiracy, stating that the neighbouring country is continuously making ‘failed attempts’ to disrupt the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.“India cannot digest CPEC project,” Shahbaz Sharif said while talking to media in Beijing.
The chief minister stated this after ten labourers were gunned down in Balochistan on Saturday. The workers had been working on link roads to connect outlying towns to the country’s $57-billion Chinese Belt and Road initiative.The attack on the labourers took place some 20 km from the emerging port city of Gwadar in Baluchistan province that forms the southern hub of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Earlier on Saturday, a number of agreements were signed between the two countries. Moreover, Chinese President Xi Jinping also met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. It was agreed that the construction of CPEC projects will be expedited.“The supplementary projects in and around Pakistan’s Gwadar Port should be steadily advanced and the study on the construction of industrial parks along the corridor facilitated,” state-run Chinese news agency Xinhua quoted Xi as saying. Xi also stated that China-Pakistan relations were a priority for Beijing and it was willing to enrich the “all-weather strategic cooperative” partnership with Islamabad.
