Thousands of workers held an anti-China protest in Karachi in Sindh on Wednesday, complaining about the unequal wages they receive compared to their Chinese compatriots.
Previously, The News International reported that Chinese personnel hired by the Punjab Mass Transit Authority for the Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) project were receiving huge salaries compared to their Pakistani counterparts.
The huge disparity in salaries is affecting the morale of Pakistani staff, who also receive a different qualification system than the Chinese. Also, even when Chinese staff are paid in yuan, the locals receive their salaries in Pakistani rupees (PKR).
“On Wednesday, the value of 1 CNY against 1 PKR was equal to 24.02 rupees. According to the salary data of 93 Chinese working in the OLMT project, Chinese staff are well paid. If you compare the salaries of Pakistani civil servants working in the same or equivalent positions with those of Chinese personnel, Pakistani employees get mere peanuts.
According to the data, a Chinese-born L2-grade Deputy CEO / CFO / Director is paid CNY 136,000 per month, which is equivalent to more than Rs 3.26 million. There were three stalls and all were held by Chinese. No Pakistani was hired under this designation, ”stated The News International.
Giving another example of the disparity in wages, The News International said that while 12 people of Chinese origin working in the train dispatcher / train crew space receive 57,000 CNY each, equivalent to Rs 1.36m, locally hired employees working on the OLMT project are receiving much lower wages.
Pakistani employees have demanded a wage increase from the government in line with the salary of their Chinese counterparts.
Meanwhile, Beijing has suspended projects that are part of the $ 62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of the China Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and the Covid-19 pandemic. , ongoing political unrest. and the limits on external debt have caused a slowdown in Chinese investment in Pakistan.
According to sources, Pakistan in 2017 had decided to cut the salaries of contractual employees responsible for executing various projects at CPEC. Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance had refused to pay the employees under the agreement.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Planning and Development passed the CPEC 2020 Authority Bill with a majority on Tuesday despite opposition party members strongly opposing the bill, The News reported. International.
Former Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal opposed the bill and presented seven reasons for opposing the creation of the CPEC authority. However, after a heated debate, the NA panel passed the CPEC authority bill by a majority.
“The creation of the CPEC authority is superfluous and unnecessary,” he said. “The Ministry of Planning has performed its role diligently and effectively in the past.”
The national debt of 80 billion dollars on account of CPEC is destined to represent a danger to the sovereignty of Pakistan in the coming years; as has been the CCP methodology in many underdeveloped countries.
The incidents clearly describe the central motive of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is to use the CPEC project to turn Pakistan into a “Chinese colony.”
As Imran Khan claims that China is an “all-weather” friend, until then, the CCP will maintain a façade of friendship between Pakistan and China as it continues to exploit Pakistan and trade outdated items from its industries in Pakistan. The CCP is also increasing Pakistan’s debt burden at every available opportunity.
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