Muhammad Saeed
China’s signature economic initiatives that include the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the One Belt – One Road initiative, have impelled an convoluted contest not only in the Asia region but also more importantly in the West that in effect imply to American led world generally possessing political, economic and technological muscles. One key initiative, considered as a game changer in Pakistan, is China Pakistan Economic Corridor that has on one side staggered the domestic and regional stakeholders because they are not tuned to such style of gigantic covenants for a long period down the history, while on the other hand created angst among western policymakers leading to quick efforts for seeking assorted partnerships with such countries of Asia that have either historical differences or competition with both China and Pakistan.
Through these initiatives, which may well be described as out of the box way out for correcting and mending the geopolitical and geo-economic irritants, China has taken the precise step towards bringing peace, security and progress to the most volatile region. Russia also seems willing to support China in its bid to get rid of many challenges faced by the regional countries especially Pakistan and Afghanistan due to the sustained iniquitous and injurious US policies of divide and rule but keep the pot boiling mostly through proxy conflicts particularly in recent history, for the last many decades.
There is a history of Pakistan-China relations and also an account of Pakistan America relations. History of Pak-China relations is almost completely devoid of any sort of nuisance in spite of the oblique efforts of the many including the US led or the US support cohorts to create fissures between two countries on the issues related to the violent terrorism in the Chinese province of Xinxiang. On the contrary narration of Pak-US relations is full of provocation and exasperation despite Pakistan’s earnest efforts to maintain American influence in the region even after the collapse of RCD and many more obstacles down the history. In contemporary history Pakistan carried forward American policies of fighting against Soviet brand of communism through a variety of proxies including Mujahideen. On the heals of this success, Pakistan was given the portfolio of non-NATO ally to fight another dangerous war against faceless enemies under the phenomenon of WOT although the no Pakistani or Afghan national was involved in the incidents of 9/11 of which Pakistan and Afghanistan became the war theatres for more than fifteen years. The agony of being frequent front line ally of the US has not yet ended as once again Pakistan has come in for an ignominious mention in President Obama’s final state of the union address as a country that could see decades of instability and become a safe haven for new terrorist networks, possibly forcing the country’s establishment to attempt a turnaround in its policy of using terrorism for its strategic goals. The US President’s explicit citing of Pakistan on January 12, 2016, even as he generically referred to Middle-East, which is more vulnerable, and many other parts of world as hotspots but not US and Europe, came just hours before the Pakistan government announced it has taken Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masud Azhar and others into “protective custody” in the post Pathankot incident. Observing that “instability will continue for decades” in many parts of the world particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan, US President Barrack Obama said that both al-Qaeda and ISIS pose a direct threat to the US during his final State of the Union Address to the Congress. President Obama is absolutely correct in his opinion that both al-Qaeda and now ISIL pose a direct threat to people more in those countries which are considered not following American policies but not in those countries where there is direct or indirect American influence. This is an indication that the US and its true allies will continue to create and use monsters like Taliban, Al Qaeda, Daish and ISIS, because in today’s world, even a handful of terrorists who place no value on human life, including their own, can do a lot of damage.
China’s initiatives of building a gigantic but durable multipurpose corridor through Pakistan and resolution of long pending issue of Gilgit Baltistan wrongly labeled as disputed region for incorrect reasons, has created an unprecedented anxiety in the ranks of American led West that would do all endeavours to checkmate this game changing opportunity with already tested political and strategic tools like Al Qaeda and ISIS in addition to certain other tactics including hidden proxies. Most important aspect of Pakistan making a historic decision to turn towards regional powers rather than extra regional players while replacing traditional policies, would also attract quick reactions from the certain regional powers that have already been made part and parcel of Asia pivot policy engineered by the US. In such a scenario the capacity of ISIS is horridly being enhanced in Afghanistan and efforts are also on way to plow ISIS inside Pakistan in order to supplement the prophesies of American president’s State of the Union address about Pakistan and Afghanistan living with instability for next many years. Pakistan’s policymakers must understand the seriousness of what all is going on around the region including Iran-KSA impasse, resumed terror incidents either inside Pakistan or Afghanistan or for that matter in India, Turkey and Indonesia, and act wisely to thwart what Mr. Obama has professed for the future. For Pakistan, it must focus on what China suggests about the impediments on route to Gwadar; Gilgit Baltistan needs to be completely stabilized by giving it a solid constitutional status to avoid exploitation of its existing vulnerabilities (sectarianism and extremism) by the global and regional powers without falling pray of any kind of emotions and short sighted analysis.