Pakistan capital under security lockdown before regional SCO summit

Three-day public holiday declared in Islamabad as Chinese Premier Li Qiang visits for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting.

Pakistan’s capital has been put under a strict security lockdown as Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrives for a four-day visit during which he will also preside over a regional summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Li’s visit is the first by a Chinese premier to Pakistan in 11 years, Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Office said on Monday as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif received Li at the airport.

The SCO meeting with nine full member countries – including China, India, Iran and Russia – is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Islamabad. The organisation was established in 2001 by China and Russia to discuss security concerns in Central Asia and the wider region.

The SCO participants will be represented by the prime ministers of China, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as well as the vice president of Iran and the external affairs minister of India, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

To boost security for the SCO meeting, the Pakistani government announced a public holiday in Islamabad for three days, starting on Monday, with schools and businesses shut and large contingents of police and paramilitary forces deployed across the city.

Pakistani soldiers will be responsible for the security of the capital’s Red Zone, where most of the meetings will be held, according to the Ministry of interior. It is also home to parliament and is a diplomatic enclave.

Pakistani army personnel patrol Islamabad’s Red Zone on the eve of the SCO summit [Aamir Qureshi/AFP]

Tensions have mounted after the main opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan called for a protest on Tuesday in Islamabad if the government did not allow Khan’s family members, lawyers and doctors to meet him in prison.

Early this month, Khan’s supporters rallied in Islamabad to push for his release, leading to clashes with security forces.

Islamabad has also sought to curb all movement of Chinese nationals in the city, citing fears of violence from armed groups.

On October 6, an attack with explosives near Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport killed two Chinese nationals. The Balochistan Liberation Army, a separatist armed group, claimed responsibility.

The attacks on Chinese nationals are likely to figure in the talks as Li and Sharif lead their respective delegations to discuss economic and trade ties and cooperation under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $65bn infrastructure investment under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Li is also likely to inaugurate the CPEC-funded Gwadar International Airport in the southwestern province of Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.