PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will raise special force of 9,000 personnel for the security of foreigners working on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in the province.

The decision was made during a meeting held here on Thursday.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak chaired the meeting, which was attended by chief secretary Amjad Ali Khan, special assistant to the CM Mushtaq Ghani and senior officials, said an official statement.

The statement said the CM directed the relevant authorities to identify areas of security for Chinese nationals and other foreigners attached to the CPEC project in northern parts of the province.

`The special security force will comprise nine infantries (9,000 personal),` it said.

The meeting discussed the terms of references (TORs) and legal power of the new force dedicated to the security of the multibillion dollars project.

According to the statement, around 12,000 Chinese nationals will be involved in the CPEC project.

The security cover for the CPEC project has been divided into north and south regions. Since the north region falls in KP, the provincial government will plan its security.

The special security force will be deployed to provide security to Chinese engineers and other technical staff members and professionals. The statement said the corridor consisting of highway, railway line, electricity and gas pipelines, fibre optic and industrial zones would link Gwadar Port in Balochistan with China.

During the meeting, the CM issued directions for the adoption of a futuristic approach for the CPEC project saying he believed the corridor would redefine importance and strategic location of the entire region.

`We need to prepare a detailed sketch of the security and operational activities for the project areas,` the statement quoted him as saying.

The CM said the overall sketch should identify the role and distribution of responsibilities and level of constructions of different security agencies and that there should be no overlapping of responsibility.

He sought to raise the province`s share in the one per cent finances in the CPEC security project.-Bureau Report