Slain Chinese were part of IPP talks, says Aurangzeb
The Chinese nationals who lost their lives in a terrorist attack near the Karachi airport on Sunday night were in talks with senior government ministers regarding the renegotiation of terms for Independent Power Producers (IPPs), a top government minister revealed on Tuesday. The remarks from Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb came as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to make all-out efforts to ensure that Chinese nationals working in the country were “untouchable”. Stressing that a peaceful and secure atmosphere was essential to attract foreign investment, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also pledged not to allow a repeat of 2014, when a PTI sit-in had derailed a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping. In his remarks, the finance minister said that the slain men were IPP engineers, adding that he and his cabinet colleague Power Minister Awais Leghari had been negotiating with them and requesting them to “re-profile debt and extend the maturities” so Pakistan could reduce power tariffs to bring relief to the people.