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Altercation reported at Karachi nuclear plant as Pakistan workers bear the brunt of Chinese projects in Pakistan 

WION
New Delhi Written By: Sidhant SibalUpdated: Sep 17, 2019, 03:59 PM IST
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File photo. Photograph:(ANI)

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CZEC expelled the two Chinese staff for disrespecting Islamic culture and crossing the "10 red lines" established by the company.

Two serious incidents of Pakistani workers bearing the brunt of Chinese projects, including one at a nuclear power plant, have come to light in the past couple of months.

On May 27, 2019, a serious altercation broke out between two Chinese workers and as many Pakistan staff at an under-construction K2 unit of Karachi Nuclear power project. The project is being built by Pakistan with the help of China's Zhongyuan Engineering Corp (CZEC), the overseas arm of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).

CZEC expelled the two Chinese staff for disrespecting Islamic culture and crossing the "10 red lines" established by the company.

The company, which is the largest overseas nuclear project contractor of China said that the incident happened due to the poor understanding of the importance of China-Pakistan friendship and the belt and road initiative of the Chinese staff were involved in the incident.

To prevent any such incident in future, the company has set up Pakistani labour complaint station boxes were Pakistani workers can report any abuse and will be working with Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) to overcome language barriers and cultural differences.

But work is in full progress at the Karachi unit two and Karachi unit three of the power project.

Another incident was reported on April 10, 2019 at China Nuclear Industry Huaxing Construction Co Ltd (HXCC) labour camp in Pakistani company "Malik & co" where one person died and three others hospitalised after drinking cold drink laced with poison. They were initially taken to CZEC hospital and later referred to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi and Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital.