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Category: PAKISTAN

Pak confident on China, but says there are no free lunches

Questioned about the dispute over Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan, the High Commissioner said that his country stands with the UN Resolution…reports Asian Lite News

Pakistan High Commissioner for Sri Lanka Major General (Retd.) Muhammad Saad Khattak expressed confidence on China’s support for his country but warns that countries like Sri Lanka and his own should be ‘mindful about the support extended and taken from other countries’.

“Pakistan-China relationship or Sri Lanka-China relationship all the engagements we are undertaking with the Chinese government I think a lot depends on how our leadership handles,” said the High Commissioner when the media questioned whether countries like Sri Lanka and Pakistan have entrapped to China’s emerging as a super power in the region.

“Our countries are mindful about the support extended and taking from the other countries. We have also seen the support came to our countries from some other countries and schemes attached,” the High Commissioner said, adding that Sri Lanka left certain agreements with other countries because they did not suit the island nation despite the fact that the offering countries were great powers.

“There have been many things on offer for our countries. They were very attractive often. But we thought those to be compromising our sovereignty but we did not opt for those. With the Chinese support I think nothing visibly is happening of the sort,” he said adding, “I don’t see Chinese soldiers swamping over Sri Lanka nor Pakistan.”

However, Khattak said, “Yet at the same time we have to keep in mind that there are no free-lunches.”

“So, therefore it has to be an accommodation of the interest of the countries that are at the giving end, that accommodation would not mean for the leadership to compromise on the fundamentals of your sovereignty and dignity.”

Questioned about the dispute over Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan, the High Commissioner said that his country stands with the UN Resolution but India has brought in unilateral changes in the region violating the UN Security Council resolution.

“My reference is to the challenges that have emanated by changing the status of the illegally occupied state of Jammu and Kashmir. There is a principal stand that we continue to stand with and that is in accordance with the UN resolutions,” he said.

“Despite those stated resolutions India has brought in unilateral changes in the region violating United Nation Security Council Resolutions. Pakistan position always was principle one and continues to remain the same that is to stand with the people of the ‘occupied’ Jammu and Kashmir assisting them politically and diplomatically and ensuring that the issue is addressed according to the United Nations Security Council Resolutions.”

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15 July 2021
Pak Aims For More in Afghanistan to Challenge India

The good Taliban and the bad Taliban theory has been Pakistan’s hypocritical strategy towards heavily-armed militant groups fighting either in Pakistan or Afghanistan, reports Mrityunjoy Kumar Jha

Although the Pakistani military establishment makes public statements about not having any “connections” with top leaders of the Taliban and Islamabad says it is not in favour of the Taliban forcibly taking over Kabul, in reality the situation is quite different.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid came out in full support of the Taliban’s advance in Afghanistan on Sunday when he told Pakistani media that the “good Taliban” were advancing and gaining power in Afghanistan.

“It is important, not only for Pakistan, but the entire region to initiate talks with the Afghan Taliban,” Pakistani daily The Nation quoted the minister as saying. The Minister said the Taliban are part of Afghanistan and like all Afghans, they do have the right to “choose” their government.

The good Taliban and the bad Taliban theory has been Pakistan’s hypocritical strategy towards heavily-armed militant groups fighting either in Pakistan or Afghanistan. Pakistan’s all-pervasive security services, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), is reported to have close links with the Afghan Taliban. The ISI has long been obsessed with the idea that controlling Afghanistan would give Pakistan the “strategic depth” needed to challenge its main adversary, India. A Taliban regime in Kabul is the best guarantee for that.

Sheikh Rashid is not alone in cheering Taliban’s “victories” in Afghanistan. Maulana Fazlur Rehaman, president of Jamait Ulema e Islam (JUI) and chief of Pakistani Democratic Movement (PDM) was seen celebrating at a political rally last week.

“After the US withdrawal, the situation is changing in Afghanistan. Inshallah, Taliban will be victorious,” Rehaman declared. Rehman is a pro-Taliban Pakistani politician. Ironically, while he is fighting for democracy in Pakistan, he is also praying for a strong Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

ALSO READ: GHANI TO TALIBAN: Who will benefit if Afghanistan is ruined?

On Friday, a number of people on motorbikes and in cars were seen in a viral video on social media, chanting slogans in favour of Taliban on the main University Road near Hayatabad of Peshawar. Some people were also seen carrying Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan flags. The people in the video were said to be returning after attending a funeral in Regi.

Senior opposition leader of Pakistan People’s Party Farhatullah Babar took to twitter to condemn the incident.

“Dead bodies of Pakistanis fighting in Afghanistan brought back for burial. Taliban regrouping in ex-tribal districts. Apologists raise Taliban flags and slogans in broad daylight in a provincial metropolis,” Babar said.

“Taliban seem supported by proxies to secure military victories enough to negotiate a favourable political settlement but not enough to overrun the country militarily. Their backers may take pride in devising a calibrated policy. But this calibration has ruined two generations,” he added.

Last month, in an interview to an Afghan news channel, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Quereshi denied that there were Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan and said most of their leaders “are in Afghanistan.”

When asked specifically about the presence of Quetta and Peshawar Shuras, or councils, he denied the existence of such institutions in Pakistan and said he “has been hearing of these terms for decades now.”

But a few days later Imran Khan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid contradicted his cabinet colleague by openly saying that families of Afghani Taliban militants live in various regions, including Islamabad’s famous areas, and are sometimes treated in local hospitals.

“Sometimes, the bodies of their soldiers are brought to hospitals, and sometimes they come here for treatment,” Rashid told Pakistani Channel Geo TV.

Pakistan is clearly aiming to increase its influence in Afghanistan and play a greater role in the region to checkmate India.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

ALSO READ: Pak military again targets India on Afghanistan

13 July 2021
Drug trafficking to intensify in Pakistan due to Afghanistan violence

The security situation in Afghanistan has weakened as the US troops have almost left. The Taliban are capturing more and more areas…reports Asian Lite News

Violence in Afghanistan could intensify drug trafficking and the problem of narcotics in Pakistan, an anti-narcotics official told NIKKEI Asia.

Akbar Durrani, federal secretary of Pakistan’s Ministry of Narcotics Control said: “If there is no political stability in Afghanistan, it might aggravate the problems which we are experiencing already.” He added that Afghanistan is one of the major narcotics challenges for Pakistan.

The security situation in Afghanistan has weakened as the US troops have almost left. The Taliban are capturing more and more areas.

Pakistan has always been a centre of trade in Afghan-produced drugs but the increasing violence in Afghanistan has boosted the trade. The situation was under control before the US troops entered the country two decades ago but the drug trade is likely to grow in the situation of political vacuum. Drug traffickers thrive amid lawlessness and economic devastation, and the pandemic has made conditions even riper for them, NIKKEI Asia reported.

“As a result of the economic downturn triggered by the pandemic, fragile communities in areas of illicit cultivation of drugs are now increasingly vulnerable, especially in Afghanistan, where the appeal of illicit crop cultivation of opium poppy is likely to rise,” a United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime report said.

ALSO READ: Pakistan looks for alternate pipeline instead of PSGP

Afghanistan is currently the world’s top opium producer. In 2020 it accounted for 85 per cent of global production and the area under poppy cultivation expanded by 37 per cent to the third-highest level ever recorded, the UN report said further.

Pakistan is one of the highest drug-consuming nations in Southwest Asia, the country now has nine million drug addicts compared to seven Million reported in 2015.

Durrani told Nikkei Asia that crystal meth in Pakistan is usually imported from faraway countries such as Mexico and Australia. But Afghanistan is now emerging as a producer of the drug, too. Afghan cooks are able to produce inexpensive crystalline methamphetamine using a native plant, ephedra, which is much cheaper than importing chemical ingredients.

Drug abuse is taking a heavy toll on the youth in Pakistan, especially students, and fuelling a life of addiction and crime.

The country’s Anti-Narcotics force has said that children as young as 9-12 have already started consuming tobacco and some as young as 13 and 14 are said to be turning to drugs. (ANI)

ALSO READ: Air travel banned for unvaccinated people in Pakistan

12 July 2021
Pak Covid infection rate soars, experts warn of 4th wave

The country has recorded a total of 973,284 COVID-19 cases, 22,582 COVID-19 deaths. At present, the country has 37,499 active cases….reports Asian Lite News

Pakistan has recorded the highest COVID-19 positivity ratio at 4.09 per cent in the last 24 hours since May 30, Geo News reported, citing the National Command and Operations Centre’s (NCOC) data.

On Sunday, the NCOC said that 1,980 coronavirus cases were detected from 48,382 tests conducted across the country in the last 24 hours, while 27 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, with the most recorded in Sindh followed by Khyber Pakhtunkwa.

The country has recorded a total of 973,284 COVID-19 cases, 22,582 COVID-19 deaths. At present, the country has 37,499 active cases.

According to a province-wise breakdown, the total cases reported in Sindh so far are 346,360. Punjab has the highest number of cases at 348,085, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (139,313), Islamabad (83,647), Balochistan (27,961), Gilgit-Baltistan (6,851,) and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) (21,067).

Meanwhile, medical officials have warned about the fourth coronavirus wave which is likely to hit the country by late July or early August and raised his concern over the increasing figures of infections once again, Geo News reported.

A medical worker collects a swab sample from a teacher for COVID-19 test at a school in Karachi, Pakistan, on Sept. 14, 2020. After a consistent drop in new cases, the Pakistani government has announced to reopen educational institutes in phases from Sept. 15. (Str/Xinhua/IANS)

Several areas sealed

Owing to the rising COVID-19 cases, the Islamabad administration has decided to seal several areas in the city by Monday morning.

The restrictions were announced by Deputy Commissioner Muhammed Hamza Shafqat in a Twitter post here on Sunday, reported ARY News.

“In 4 days covid ratio has jumped from less than 1 pc to 5 per cent,” he said.

Street 13 Qurtaba Town, Street 18 G-11/2, Street 19 F-6/3, Street 24 G-7/2, Street 29 Block H Soan Garden, Kips Academy PWD and IM School Boys F-8/3 areas were sealed in the federal capital from 9 am tomorrow, reported ARY News.

The National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) on Sunday issued directives for SOPs implementation in high-risk sectors in wake of COVID-19 variants being reported ahead of Eid ul Adha.

According to the NCOC, they have launched special measures to implement COVID SOPs in high-risk sectors. “The provinces have been issued detailed directives for strict implementation on SOPs,” it said.

The body overseeing COVID implementation strategies in the country said teams have been formed for implementing facemask and social distancing SOPs. “Guidelines have been issued for cattle markets and Eid ul Adha gatherings,” it said, reported ARY News. (ANI)

ALSO READ: SPECIAL: Hidden Facts of Child Abuse in Pakistan

12 July 2021
Air travel banned for unvaccinated people in Pakistan

The latest measures come after an increase in coronavirus cases was witnessed throughout the country, as well as the impending threat of an outbreak of the Delta variant…..reports Asian Lite News

Pakistan has imposed a ban on air travel for people who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19, a move deemed to curb the further spread of the virus, it was reported on Saturday.

In its announcement on Friday, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said the ban will come into effect from August 1, reports Dawn news.

The latest measures come after an increase in coronavirus cases was witnessed throughout the country, as well as the impending threat of an outbreak of the Delta variant.

Besides the travel ban, the NCOC also made it mandatory for all adult students to get themselves vaccinated by August 31.

A day after Prime Minister Imran Khan warned about the spread of the Delta variant, Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, on Friday admitted that the fourth wave had set in and issued new guidelines to check its spread.

The NCOC added that various other proposals were under consideration to limit unnecessary movement during Eidul Azha, which will be decided in the next few days, including a restriction on tourism.

Slow vaccination

Slow vaccination and flawed screening at airports have exposed people in Pakistan’s Punjab to the possible danger of a fourth wave of COVID-19.

According to Dawn, Punjab Health Services Director General Haroon Jahangir directed the district health authorities to focus on the business sector to ward off the fourth wave of the coronavirus.

Jahangir also expressed concern that a number of districts were far behind their daily vaccination targets of the first dose.

“Your daily target is already set in consensus with the divisional commissioners concerned,” Haroon said and warned that in absence of vaccination, Punjab (with approximately 50 pc population of Pakistan) was at the risk of a rapidly approaching possibility of fourth wave of the virus.

Pakistan’s medical facilities crumbling under rising COVID-19 cases(ANI)

However, citing official data, Dawn reported that Punjab is far behind the target assigned by the National Command Operation Centre (NCOC) to vaccinate 12 million people of 18 years of age or above by June 30.

So far, the Punjab government has inoculated 8.6 million eligible people of the province against the Covid-19.

The number of coronavirus patients in Punjab is the highest, with 347,793 cases reported so far. Punjab also has the highest number of total deaths, which has reached 10,815.

Meanwhile, Pakistan is continuing to report an increase in coronavirus cases, with the active number of cases crossing 36,000 on Saturday. Currently, the country’s number of active cases is 36,454.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 1,828 more cases of coronavirus have been reported in Pakistan in the last 24 hours, with another 35 people losing their lives to the deadly epidemic. The total number of deaths from coronavirus across the country has reached 22,555 while the total number of patients has reached 971,304. (IANS/ANI)

ALSO READ: Pakistan looks for alternate pipeline instead of PSGP

11 July 2021
Imran urged to amend proposed legislation targeting scribes

Last month, the Punjab Provincial Assembly passed the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab Privileges (Amendment) Act, 2021…reports Asian Lite News

Raising concern about the new law that threatens press freedom in Pakistan, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has asked Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar and Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi to amend the proposed legislation.

Last month, the Punjab Provincial Assembly passed the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab Privileges (Amendment) Act, 2021, a bill that empowers the speaker to form a judicial committee with the ability to penalize journalists over their coverage of the legislative body, according to news reports.

If enacted, that judicial committee would have the power to conduct summary trials and sentence journalists to up to six months in jail and fine them up to 10,000 rupees (USD 63) on the basis of a complaint by any assembly member, CPJ said citing local media reports.

“The Punjab Provincial Assembly’s move to authorize summary trials and sentencing for journalists amounts to a direct assault on press freedom in Pakistan and a threat to any journalist covering the assembly,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar must reject the Punjab Privileges (Amendment) Act unless all provisions threatening freedom of expression are removed.”

CPJ was not able to obtain the text of the bill, which has not been published on the provincial assembly’s website.

The bill empowers the assembly’s sergeant-at-arms to arrest journalists within the assembly without a warrant on the order of the speaker, and includes three-month prison terms for “publishing any false or perverted report of any debate or proceedings,” “misrepresenting any speech made by a member before the Assembly,” or “making or publishing any maliciously false, scandalous, defamatory, or derogatory statement concerning any Member,” according to those reports.

Journalists could be sentenced to six months in prison and a fine if convicted of “using criminal force to obstruct, assault, threaten, or insult” any assembly member or officer.

Defendants in those cases would be able to appeal their verdicts, but only to the speaker of the assembly, according to media reports.

Responding to journalist protests against the proposed bill, Sarwar earlier this month announced that he would work with Elahi to revoke all of its press-related provisions, according to The Nation. On July 5, Elahi announced a number of revisions to the bill, according to news reports.

However, in a joint statement published that day, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and the Lahore-based Joint Action Committee, a coalition of civil society groups, rejected those revisions and demanded that Section 21 of the bill be totally abolished, as it empowers the speaker to reintroduce the revised and omitted clauses at any time. (ANI)

ALSO READ: Pakistan looks for alternate pipeline instead of PSGP

11 July 2021
Imran’s claim of refusing US bases in Pak is false: Bilawal

Pakistan Peoples Party Chairperson said that the claims of Khan were false because no one had made a request for the bases to the government…reports Asian Lite News

Pakistan Peoples Party Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday slams Prime Minister Imran Khan over his claims of taking a stand against allowing military bases in Pakistan.

He said that the claims of Khan were false because no one had made a request for the bases to the government, reported Dawn.

Addressing a public gathering in Haveli during his campaign for the upcoming Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) elections, he said, “You must have been hearing that the US will not be given bases and the prime minister has taken a stand. To tell you the truth, no one has even asked him, no one has made him a phone call, no one has asked him for a base, he is just saying it on his own,” reported Dawn.

Last month, Prime Minister Imran had said that Pakistan would “absolutely not” allow any bases and use of its territory to the US for any sort of action inside Afghanistan.

“Absolutely not. There is no way we are going to allow any bases, any sort of action from Pakistani territory into Afghanistan. Absolutely not,” the prime minister told Axios on HBO in an interview. The video clip of this statement by the premier went viral on social media and was widely shared by government accounts, reported Dawn.

ALSO READ: Pakistan Again Betrays Afghans and the World

Bilawal in his speech said former military dictator retired Gen Pervez Musharraf had provided bases to the US and it was the PPP that closed them. “If today they’re still closed then because of whom? Because of the PPP,” he added.

Bilawal claimed that it was only the PPP that had taken a stance against Washington and closed bases during its tenure, reported Dawn.

He recalled that after the Salala incident of 2011, the parliament at the time took a stand about closing US bases and shutting NATO supply lines until the US apologised for martyring Pakistani troops.

“And this strength is only in a national and democratic parliament, this puppet govt does not have that strength to do such big things,” he said, referring to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government.

Lashing out at the government in the Centre, he said it was “snatching roti, kapra aur makaan (bread, clothing and house)” from the people who were now looking towards the PPP to come into power by becoming the people’s voice. (ANI)

ALSO READ: Pakistan looks for alternate pipeline instead of PSGP

9 July 2021
Pak-based hackers targeting critical infrastructure PSUs in India

In October 2020, reports surfaced that Pak-based Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups targeted Indian defence units…reports Asian Lite News

Pakistan-based hacker groups have expanded their cyber-attack network in India and are now targeting high-profile targets from critical infrastructure PSUs from telecom, power and finance sectors in the country, a new report warned on Friday.

In October 2020, reports surfaced that Pak-based Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups targeted Indian defence units.

The new findings from cyber security firm Seqrite have revealed that active since 2019, the APT ‘Operation SideCopy’ appears to be a cyber espionage campaign by Pakistan-backed ‘Transparent Tribe’ group that is now targeting critical infrastructure PSUs in India.

“Further investigation of the IP, using data from whatismyipaddress.com, revealed that the provider of that IP address is Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited. This revelation further strengthens the claim that Operation SideCopy which is operated by the Transparent Tribe group is originating in Pakistan,” the researchers informed.

This is likely only a subset of targets since there are several other command-and-control (C2) servers being used in ‘Operation SideCopy APT’, which are probably targeting other entities, they added.

Seqrite researchers have proactively alerted the government authorities and are working with them to keep potential targets safe.

Researchers suspect this attack to be a cyber-espionage campaign aimed at collecting sensitive information to gain a competitive advantage against India.

ALSO READ: UN session: Pakistan ramps up propaganda on J&K

“The evidence gathered by Seqrite suggests a highly organised operation designed to evade most security mechanisms. As part of the campaign, attackers are sending out phishing emails with government-themed documents in an attempt to lure targets into opening the attachments,” the company emphasised.

According to Seqrite, threat actors were leveraging compromised websites, which resemble the websites that the targeted organisations would generally access.

Further analysis of data accessible from some C2 servers led researchers at Seqrite to an IP address that was commonly found across different C2 servers.

“In fact, this IP address turned out to be the first entry in many logs, which indicated that the corresponding system is likely being used for testing the attack before launch,” the team noted.

According to researchers, the malicious actors have enhanced the attack tools and methods, as compared to last year, to make detection difficult.

“This attack group is well funded and is actively improving its attack mechanisms to infiltrate the target entities. The group can potentially steal critical intel from the government agencies and their subsequent bodies,” the report mentioned.

They can even use that information to make more lures and target other government departments, warned researchers from Seqrite, the cybersecurity security products and solutions brand of Quick Heal Technologies Limited.

ALSO READ: Pakistan looks for alternate pipeline instead of PSGP

9 July 2021
UK court denies Pak corruption defence in Reko Diq case

Balochistan has been maintaining that the mining company opted for illegal means and bribed government officials to get advantage in securing licence in the province…reports Hamza Ameer.

The judge of a UK court has denied Pakistan the right to level corruption allegations as a defence and challenge the jurisdiction of an arbitral tribunal in the Reko Diq mines case.

Judge Robin Khowles of the High Court of Justice, who was hearing the case ‘Province of Balochistan vs Tethyan Copper Company’ (TCC), rejected Balochistan’s position.

Balochistan, referring to a Supreme Court decision, contended that the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) tribunal lacked jurisdiction in the Reko Diq case as the underlying agreement was void due to corruption.
However, it was not sufficient to validate that the accusations of corruption had been raised before the tribunal.

As per the decision, the UK arbitration law stops parties from raising issues before the court, which had not been mentioned during the arbitration.

Balochistan has been maintaining that the mining company opted for illegal means and bribed government officials to get advantage in securing licence in the province.

However, the UK judge highlighted that even though the Supreme Court of Pakistan had declared the joint venture void, its decision was not based on Pakistan’s allegations that the agreement had been secured through bribes.

“Descriptions of or references to corruption are insufficient. The question with which the corruption allegation is concerned is whether the Supreme Court of Pakistan found that the [agreement] and related agreements were void due to the existence of corruption,” Knowles maintained.

“In my judgment, it did not. If the province has evidence relating to corruption that was not before the ICC tribunal… then it is for the province to seek to address those matters with the arbitral tribunal; it does not make it legitimate for the province to raise them with the court as a challenge to the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal,” the judge said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIHWSbemGrg

This is the second time that Pakistan’s claims have been rejected in the case. In 2019, the International Centre of Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) had rejected Pakistan’s allegations that former the Chief Minister of Balochistan province, Nawaz Aslam Raisani, was offered a bribe of $1 million by the Tethyan Copper Company in relation to the Reko Diq mines in 2009.

TCC is a joint venture of Barrik Gold Corporation of Australia and Antofagasta PLC of Chile. The Reko Diq district in Balochistan is well known for its mineral wealth, including gold and copper.

The dispute was taken up by the ICSID tribunal after TCC claimed $8.5 billion when the mining authority of Balochistan rejected its application for a multi-million dollar mining lease in the province in 2011.

ALSO READ-Free Balochistan Movement stage protest in UK

READ MORE-SPECIAL: Travails of Balochistan

9 July 2021
CPEC: Gilgit-Baltistan Pays the price for China’s Greed

In a way, China-driven by its greed for power and resources has taken a calculated risk to establish its own ‘sphere of influence’ in the Gilgit Baltistan region. Sadly, however, this is being done at the cost of the environment, impacting local livelihoods and changing demographic structures while Pakistan, the country it calls its iron brother, acting as a vassal state, surrenders its much fought sovereign character to a culturally alien neighbour…reports Asian Lite News

China’s Belt and Road Initiative, aimed at renewing the country’s historic trade routes in the coastal countries of south-east Asia, Eurasian mainland and big sweeps of the Indian Ocean if it is finished as intended could have lasting consequences for China’s geopolitical and economic interests in the region, according to an analysis.

Experts and officials expect that the vast transport infrastructure of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and especially its Gwadar port will play a crucial role in the country’s pursuit of its goal particularly at a time when it has started enhancing trade ties with landlocked Afghanistan and the Central Asian countries, opines Fabien Baussart, President of CPFA (Center of Political and Foreign Affairs), writing in the Times of Israel.

CPEC says Baussart since it was launched in the year 2015 is the ‘prize plan’ of the BRI, which links China’s northeastern province of Xinjiang (Kashgar) with the Gwadar Port region of Balochistan in southwestern Pakistan.

ALSO READ: China forced to change strategy amid CPEC delay

The BRI corridors are projected to link China with more than 150 countries through a web of roads, railways and sea routes. In total, the estimated amount of the BRI projects could be up to USD 1.3 trillion.
The analyst points out that several existential issues pose a serious challenge to the way CPEC is unravelled and executed in the region. These include factors such as internal strife and sectarian conflicts within Pakistan, particularly in the insurgency-prone areas in Balochistan, where CPEC has made significant amount of investments.

Also, China faces restraints within its own borders. The Xinjiang Province plays a strategic role geographically for the CPEC has already been suffering from ethnic turbulence due to clashes between the indigenous Muslim Uyghur population the mainstream Han Chinese. The consequent harsh measures being taken by the Chinese authorities against the Uyghur population has globally become a matter of concern.
The Times of Israel article notes that the CPEC is central to the hegemonic quests of China in the Indian subcontinent. The CPEC when complete will not only give China access to the Arabian Sea and develop an alternative route for its critical energy imports and other resources but also provide another gateway to mineral-rich and politically vulnerable Afghanistan.

A major challenge for Pakistan in the context of CPEC is to negotiate better terms with the Chinese companies so as to derive reasonable profits from the investments made in the country’s infrastructure.
Baussart writes that the Pakistani leadership seems apprehensive on the nature and scope of implementation of the CPEC program so that structural imbalances are removed and the economy attains sustainable growth. This, says the analyst, is an important cause of concern since the CPEC is heavily tilted in China’s favour and driven by its own vested interests.

In a way, China-driven by its greed for power and resources has taken a calculated risk to establish its own ‘sphere of influence’ in the Gilgit Baltistan region. Sadly, however, this is being done at the cost of the environment, impacting local livelihoods and changing demographic structures while Pakistan, the country it calls its iron brother, acting as a vassal state, surrenders its much fought sovereign character to a culturally alien neighbour. (ANI)

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9 July 2021