ISLAMABAD: 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.

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.

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.

“This was the Chinese IPP that had pledged to move forward with us, to create a win-win situation for both China and Pakistan. These are the people who stepped forward to help Pakistan, their senior management also flew from Beijing to move the process forward,” the minister said, expressing his condolences over the loss of lives and hoping that the dialogue with the Chinese would continue to move forward.