ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has assured that the perpetrators of Dasu Bus blast will be exposed and brought to justice.
Addressing a news conference on Saturday, the interior minister said that investigation into the incident has reached the final stage.
He said the highest security institutions of the country are carrying out the investigation and a fifteen-member Chinese team is also involved in the process.
He said the relevant institutions have also been directed to make the security of Chinese people and projects more effective.
He said the sordid designs of those elements which are against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Pak-China friendship will be foiled.
Rashid said during telephonic conversation with his Chinese counterpart, he briefed him about the progress made so far into the bus incident investigation. He said, “We also shared condolences over the death of thirteen people including nine Chinese in the incident.”
The interior minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to visit China. He said that Pakistan is proud of its all-weather friendship with China which is higher than the Himalayas.
About Afghanistan, Sheikh Rashid said that Pakistan has no favourites in Afghanistan, adding, “We only want establishment of peace there. Nobody will be allowed to use our land against any other country.”
Earlier in the day, the interior minister assured Chinese Minister for Public Security Zhao Kezhi that the investigation of the Kohistan bus tragedy is underway at the highest level on the directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
“The Chinese investigation team is being provided full support,” Rashid said. “All Chinese workers in Pakistan would be provided fool-proof security,” the minister said during a telephone call with the Chinese minister.
The two sides also agreed that no hostile element could spoil the relationship between the two countries.
Expressing their regret over the loss of precious lives in the unfortunate accident, the two ministers discussed the progress of the investigation and also agreed to complete the probe on a priority basis.
“Pakistan and China’s friendship is tried, tested. We are iron brothers,” the interior minister said.
A day earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan also spoke with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang and assured him that the government of Pakistani would spare no effort to fully investigate the incident.
“He [prime minister] assured that no effort would be spared to fully investigate the incident,” said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office detailing the telephone call between the two premiers.
At least 13 people – nine Chinese nationals and four Pakistanis – were killed and more than two dozen others wounded Wednesday morning when a shuttle bus they were travelling in plunged into a deep ravine after an explosion on board. The bus was ferrying the Chinese and Pakistani workers to an under-construction tunnel site of the Dasu Hydropower Project in the remote Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. – TLTP
