Lahore: Pakistan's Punjab Home Department has directed Chinese nationals, who are living in the province or working with private companies, to hire private security companies of A category for their security, media reports said.

The home department and police held a meeting on Thursday to review the security of the Chinese nationals working on government and private projects in the province, reports Dawn News.

In 2014, the Punjab government had established the Special Protection Unit (SPU) as a dedicated unit for the security of foreigners working at different projects of national importance.

As many as 3,336 security constables, 187 drivers, 20 wireless operators, 244 former army personnel in the rank of senior security constable to chief security officer and seven former army officers in the rank of additional director & deputy director were recruited in the SPU, the newspaper reported.

SPU DIG Agha Yousuf told Dawn News that due to an increase in terror incidents in the country, the security of the Chinese officials working on government projects had been beefed up further.

He said the SPU was deployed for the security of the Chinese nationals working only on the CPEC and other government-related projects and added that the Chinese nationals working with private projects or visiting the country on their own were directed to hire security companies for their security.

He said there were hundreds of Chinese nationals who were working with private companies and steps were being taken to ensure their security.

“The government also has established the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and the Chinese nationals have been directed to hire A category security companies for their security,” he said.