ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's capital was under strict security lockdown as Chinese Premier Li Qiang landed in the city on Monday ahead of a heads-of-government gathering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation this week. Li's visit is the first by a Chinese premier to Pakistan in 11 years, Pakistan's Prime Minister's Office said. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif received Li at the airport.
The government has announced a three-day public holiday in Islamabad, with schools and businesses shut and large contingents of police and paramilitary forces deployed. Pakistan army troops will be responsible for the security of the capital's Red Zone, the location of the parliament and a diplomatic enclave and where most of the meetings will take place.
Sharif's office said that he and Li discussed economic and trade ties and cooperation under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $65 billion investment in the South Asian country under Chinese President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative. — Reuters
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