QUETTA - Unidentified armed men yesterday abducted a Chinese couple from Quetta’s Jinnah Town at gunpoint and wounded a citizen on resistance, while another Chinese woman escaped from the abductors’ clutches.

The abductions happened around midday in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, which is at the heart of the $50 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

“Unidentified armed men kidnapped a Chinese couple from Quetta at gunpoint,” Deputy Inspector General of Police Abdur Razzaq Cheema said while confirming the incident.

Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri suspended DSP and SHOs of Jinnah Town and Ghalmandi police stations with immediate effect t over negligence.

The three Chinese nationals, a man and two women, were undertaking Urdu language course at ARK Academy Quetta. They were residing in the jurisdiction of Ghalmandi police station.

Reportedly, the abductors forced the Chinese nationals to sit in their vehicle with tinted glasses and drove away. Another Chinese woman dodged the kidnappers by fleeing.

Acting Deputy Inspector General of Police Aitzaz Ahmed Goraya said all available resources were being mobilised for the recovery of the abducted Chinese nationals. He said the police were collecting evidence from the scene to identify and trace the criminals.

Giving more details of the incident, Goraya said “They (Chinese) were dragged into a vehicle without number plates by three unknown men." One Chinese woman managed to escape as the men began firing in the air to scare off onlookers.

A passer-by, Muhammad Zahir, was shot as he tried to prevent the abduction. He told AFP he saw three men forcing a Chinese woman into a white car but she was resisting and crying. "I stopped to observe the situation but they had forced the woman in the car by then and were pushing the man.

"So I rushed to them and asked what they were doing. One of them said, 'We are from the crime branch of the police and we are taking them for investigation' and I told them that they should not misbehave with people. Then the driver came out and shot me in my leg," the 35-year-old said.

After the incident, the police surveillance at all entry and exit points of the city has been strengthened. Vehicles with tinted glasses and without number plates are also being thoroughly checked to prevent the abductors from escaping the city, said the acting DIG.

“A citizen who tried to save the Chinese couple from the abductors was injured by the outlaws. He was shifted to Civil Hospital for treatment,” said an eyewitness.

A heavy contingent of police and Frontier Corps rushed to the crime scene and launched a search operation.

It was the third abduction case within two weeks in Balochistan. A businessman was abducted from the border city of Chaman, a Hindu trader from Nasirabad three days ago and now Chinese nationals have been kidnapped.

Earlier, in March this year, Balochistan Higher Education Secretary Abdullah Jan was also kidnapped at gunpoint from Quetta. Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri directed the IGP to submit a detailed report on the incident. He also directed the IGP to chalk out a plan for the security of foreigners within 24 hours, besides ensuring safe and sound recovery of the abducted Chinese couple.

Chinese state media confirmed the kidnapping, while deputy chief of mission in Islamabad Zhao Lijian said the embassy was working towards their release.

He said the pair had been studying Urdu at a language centre. Local police had earlier said they were teaching Chinese.

China is ramping up investment in its South Asian neighbour as part of a plan unveiled in 2015 that will link its far-western Xinjiang region to Gwadar port in Balochistan with a series of infrastructure, power and transport upgrades.

Enrolment in Mandarin-language courses has skyrocketed as a result, to prepare Pakistanis for an influx of tens of thousands of expected Chinese expatriates.

Pakistan has been battling extremism in mineral-rich Balochistan since 2004, with hundreds of soldiers and militants killed in the fighting. Bordering Iran and Afghanistan, it is the largest of Pakistan's four provinces, but the roughly seven million inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth.

A greater push towards peace and development by Pakistani authorities, including with CPEC, has reduced the violence considerably in recent years.

TERRORIST KILLED IN KALAT OP

A terrorist was killed and another was arrested when security forces launched an intelligence-based operation in Kalat district of Balochistan on Wednesday.

An officer among three lawmen also sustained injuries in exchange of fire with terrorists during the operation.

According to security sources, the Balochistan Frontier Corps (FC) and other law enforcement agencies launched a search operation on a tip-off about presence of terrorists in a compound located in Sorab area of Kalat. As the lawmen raided the terrorists’ den, they resorted to indiscriminate firing on forces. The security forces retaliated and killed a terrorist and arrested another alive. Moreover, two of their accomplices succeeded in escaping from the scene, said the security sources.

A couple of days back, the security forces had apprehended the mastermind of scores of terrorists’ strikes in Balochistan who confessed to his crimes in a video clip saying he was involved in lawyers, police and Shah Ahmed Noorani Shrine bloody suicide detonations