Muhammad Rayyan
Dr. Stephen P. Cohen’ famous American political scientist, prominent expert on Pakistan, India, and South Asian security and a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution was asked by a journalist during an interview that if there is any example in the world (in his knowledge) where the cordial relations between the states are not entirely based on the mutual interests. Dr. Cohen replied that in his recollection, China-Pakistan relations can be described as the states’ relations which are above their personal interests.
Indeed, often described as “iron brothers”, China and Pakistan fit the bill of having ties which are beyond the realm of ethnocentrism or selfish, national interests. For decades it was the only window for the loner state, when Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was the sole international air carrier operating to and from China to the outside world. Pakistan fought the case for People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) recognition at the United Nations and international forums and also facilitated the rapprochement between PRC and USA. Henry Kissinger’s clandestine visit to Beijing in 1971 was organized by Pakistan. That trip became the precursor of US President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China, which finally thawed Sino-US relations.
China never forgot the gestures and acknowledges Pakistan’s munificent support in those bleak years. In response it has always stood by Pakistan in its every moment of trial and tribulation. Whether it was wars with India, natural calamities or manmade disasters, China has always been the first to reach its distressed brother Pakistan. During prolonged periods of sanctions imposed on Pakistan by the United Nations, China continued to support Pakistan’s genuine defense requirements. Similarly, Pakistan has also endeavored to provide all out support whenever PRC or its people faced any catastrophe.
In this isolated environment China has chalked out development projects to enable Pakistan to climb out of the quagmire of economic dependency. President Xi Jinping has envisioned a mega project “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR), which is a revival of the ancient Silk Route and also has a maritime component. One of the constituents of the OBOR is the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which commences from the deep seaport of Gwadar (also constructed by China) and meandering through various parts of Pakistan, including the under developed provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, concludes at Kashgar in China. The OBOR fans out from Kashgar into Central Asia and reaches Europe. The OBOR and CPEC are not mere highways but comprise special economic zones envisaging industrial, commercial, trade, health, educational, energy, and information centers. Train, oil, gas, marine and air links complement the OBOR.
Even though China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would take a little more time to become fully operational, it became nominally functional on October 31, as first caravan consisting of 150 to 300 shipping containers began their journey from China to Gwadar; an important milestone has indeed been met.
First convoy loaded with Chinese goods rolled into the Sost dry Port in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). Sost is a village in Hunza. It’s the last town in Pakistan on the Karakoram highway before entering the Chinese border. One thousand Chinese containers would pass through the Karakoram highway in Gilgit-Baltistan every week.
The first CPEC convoy was received by G-B Chief Minister Hafeez Ur Rehman and the Commander of the Force Command Northern Areas. “This is going to be the fate changer for our country,” said the G-B Chief Minister. “We will thwart conspiracies being hatched against CPEC,” he said in a veiled reference to India which has publicly opposed the project. From Sost onwards, shipping containers would be escorted to Gwadar in smaller convoys. First such convoy of forty-five containers left Gilgit for Gwadar on the same day. Personnel of Army, Police and Special CPEC Force are providing foolproof security to the convoy. Earlier this year, Beijing had donated 25 vehicles equipped with modern security gears to the G-B government, for the security of convoys coming from China.
Aware of the outcome of the mega project in bringing prosperity to Pakistan, India is bent upon sabotaging the CPEC along with the deep sea port of Gwadar. There are fears that Indian spy agency RAW could ferment trouble through different strategies and launch disruptive activities. India has declared this project as unacceptable and has set-up a 300 million dollar fund to sabotage CPEC. Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is personally overseeing this nefarious activity. India has also poured in huge funds to create mistrust amongst provinces on the issue of sharing the benefits of CPEC. Some of recent terrorist attacks in Balochistan have been linked to Indian intent of disrupting CPEC. India is also trying to raise a separatist entity in the G-B province to create an impression of indigenous disapproval for the corridor.
In a rare revelation, the Pakistan Navy announced on November 18 that an Indian Navy submarine was detected and escorted away from Pakistani territorial waters. While New Delhi has dismissed the report, Pakistani security analysts feel that since the countries are not at war the Indian submarine was on an intelligence gathering mission in and around territorial waters as the date coincided with the first fleet leaving Gwadar port under CPEC project.
Besides fomenting strife and insurgency in Pakistan’s province of Balochistan and wreaking havoc through terror attacks, India and her allies are backing it for their vested interests by bribing or influencing some Pakistani politicians to oppose the CPEC and the ingress of Chinese investment in Pakistan. There are three routes under CPEC umbrella, and all of them have their own worth and value for the people of Pakistan. However, one must understand that ultimately the route that serves economic interests of the investor is the priority route. It is regrettable that some elements have been hurling baseless accusations and want all the three routes to cover a wish list of areas, but such proposition is not economically viable.
Besides finding imaginary faults with CPEC, criticizing the priorities, these detractors are also creating despondency by comparing the advent of CPEC to the British East India Company, which had come to the Indian Subcontinent during the Seventeenth Century in the reign of the Moghul Emperor Jahangir and became the precursor of three centuries of British Rule in India. Astonishingly this was stated by one of a senior Senator of our parliament.
It is highly derogatory to draw parallels with the East India Company and the CPEC project. There is no doubt that OBOR and CPEC will benefit China but it had other options too besides Pakistan, yet it chose us because of our special relationship. If China were to discontinue CPEC (God Forbid), Pakistan would be left in a lurch, fending for itself against the very sharks that want to disintegrate us and devour us. Pragmatism demands that Pakistan’s interests must be safeguarded while true Sino-Pak bonds must not be sacrificed at the altar of vested interests.
Pakistan cannot afford to become complacent with the arrival of the inaugural convoy and the ship, it is just the beginning and a lot of miles are yet to be covered to make the CPEC fully operational. Federal government needs to build trust amongst the federating units and narrow down differences of opinion. Moreover, vigil must be maintained on the activities of foreign intelligence agencies and must implement proactive measures to nullify hostile acts before they are committed.
