Hidden agenda of CPEC, Dr Shabir Choudhry
What Baloch leaders say on the CPEC
Chinese presence in
Pakistan and in parts of disputed Jammu and Kashmir under the control of
Pakistan is a great cause of concern not only to the local people but also to
those who are concerned about peace and stability of the region and future
ambitions of China in this region.
The CPEC will end
in Gwadar in Balochistan; but it is sad to note that people of Balochistan have
very serious reservations about this project which, according to them, is
designed to exploit natural resources of Balochistan. Balochistan
National Party (BNP) Chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal has claimed that Punjab is to
reap CPEC benefits.
While speaking to around
16,000 people at the Shaheed Mir Asghar Khan Mengal football stadium, Sardar
Akhtar Mengal who was once a Chief Minister of Balochistan he said:
“I have never opposed any development but again I would
clarify that our objective and mission is wide and clear that any development
which turns the Baloch people into a minority will be opposed with full
strength. Gwadar is being developed for outsiders and people of the province
will not be even allowed to enter the port city…I have talked about these apprehensions some 20 years ago
that Gwadar is being developed not for the Baloch people but for Punjab.”
He further said, we will protect dignity and sanctity of
the land at all costs; and that “Poverty, backwardness and low literacy will
not be our fate. Our land is rich in natural resources and these resources will
be utilised to improve the life of the common people here.” 1
Sardar Akhtar
Mengal is a senior Pakistani politician; and he has served Pakistan as the
Chief Minister of troubled province of Balochistan. What he says may not be
liked by the army establishment and some politicians, but his sentiments are
shared by the common people of Balochistan who have suffered since 1947.
Peace in
Balochistan and in Gwadar is absolutely essential for the CPEC projects and for
its smooth operations. Bitter fact, however, is that many people in Balochistan
are up in arms against Pakistan and the CPEC, because they think it will
exploit their resources and enable Pakistan to crush them with help of China.
Khan of Kalat Mir Suleman Dawood, is a son of Khan of Kalat, Mir Ahmad Yar
Khan.
After death of his father in 1979, Mir Suleman Dawood assumed the hereditary
title of Khan of Kalat. Because of very strong differences with the
government of Pakistan, especially after the Pakistan army murdered Sardar
Akbar Bugti in 2006; he lives in Britain. However, his views are very much
respected in Balochistan and some other places. In a recent statement,
published on 27 May 2017, Khan of Kalat said:
‘The China-pakistan Economic Corridor
(CPEC) is an existential threat to the Baloch nation and its people; and
threatens India as well as American
interests in the region’. He said the CPEC was a 'Chinese military project', and ‘the United States and the Indian government to support an independent Balochistan and
called on Pakistan to stop the genocide of Balochs. He said only independent
Balochistan can help remove the threat of war to India from its western border’. 2
Khan of Kalat claims that Balochistan was an independent State, and was
occupied by force. “The Balochs will never stop pursuing the case of illegal
occupation and human rights violations in Balochistan. The situation in
Balochistan is deteriorating. Pakistan's rule over Balochistan has never been
legitimate, it has no moral authority and now it has lost control over
Balochistan. The Indian, American, Afghan, Arab states and others should
realize that the future is Balochistan." 3
He claimed more than 25,000 Baloch people are missing, and more than
million are forced to leave their homes. Mir Suleman said: ‘Mass graves have
been found in Khuzdar Baluchistan and other places, there are other locations
which we believe need to be investigated by the international institutions…The
CPEC project is meant to fulfil the Chinese expansionist ambitions in the
region’. 4
Concern
of Some European MPS
Mr. Alberto Cirio Member of the European Parliament said that:
‘China has increased their military presence in Pakistan Kashmir and
Gilgit Baltistan under the pretext of ensuring safety to their workers. He also
mentioned that the Chinese army has started to create divisions among the Shia
and Sunnis in the region, which is causing a direct threat to the region and
not only the locals. Mr. Cirio mentioned that the presence of the Chinese army
in the region is a threat to the stability of the region and questioned by
Pakistan allowed Chinese army when it always opposed the presence of the
Western Allied Forced in the region. He also mentioned that there should be a
mechanism setup to investigate the adverse effects of the presence of the
Chinese army in the Pakistan Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan’. 5
Mr. Ryszard Czarnecki, Vice President European Parliament, in
a Conference hosted in the European Parliament with the title of CHINA
IN PAKISTAN: GROWING HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS said:
‘China is engaged in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan in
construction ranging from dams, highways and ports. He spoke that it has come
to notice that there is a lot of resentment among locals in the region
of Gilgit Baltistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir over the
negative environmental impact and the utter disregard for environmental safety
norms by the Chinese infrastructure developers. Chinese construction
projects literally trash the environment’. 6
Pakistan-China relations, is often referred as ‘higher than the
Himalayas, deeper than the ocean and sweeter than the honey’. I agree countries
need friends and allies to survive in this competitive world, but is this
friendship between the people of both countries or is it between the ruling
elite which wants to further enrich themselves.
It must be remembered that China is not investing so many billions
because they are in love with people of Pakistan; and they want to eradicate
poverty and hunger from Pakistan. Despite being the second largest economy, in
China there is still a lot of poverty and hunger. Some areas are still underdeveloped
and people live below the poverty line.
What a Pakistani
thinker Lal Khan says
A Pakistani thinker and a writer, Lal Khan writes on situation of China
and the Chinese designs:
‘In spite of the hue and cry of the
bourgeois media about capitalist counter-revolution ‘lifting millions out of
poverty’, the reality is far starker. According to World Bank statistics, 67.8%
of the population (902 million) lives on less than $5 a day. China accounts for
a record one-fifth (370) of all billionaires in the world, rising from 17.6 per
cent in 2014, the China Rich List 2015, compiled by the US business magazine
Forbes, said. “The legislature of the world’s last major communist country is
almost certainly the wealthiest in the world, the top rich list names 83 dollar
billionaires among Chinese communist party’s, National Peoples Congress.
Meanwhile, in America there is not a single billionaire in the House of
Representatives or the Senate,” reported the Financial
Times. The Communist Party of China is neither communist nor a party but a
dragon of the upstart elite that sucks the blood of the workers in China and
across the world wherever they make their imperialist investments…Real
unemployment is actually closer to 20 per cent despite false official figures.
Some 274m rural migrant workers are almost entirely ignored by the job
statistics. 7
China suffered an economic shock when
in 2008, its GDP dropped to 9.6%. The previous year GDP was 14.2%. In 1914, the
Chinese economy suffered its lowest economic growth since 1990. The Financial Times, London reported that
out of thirty-one Provinces, thirty failed to achieve their growth targets. The
one which achieved its economic growth target was Tibet, which is China’s
smallest regional economy. This sounded alarm bells to the policy makers in
Beijing and they decided to embark on mega economic projects to support their
declining industry.
The Chinese agenda and plan will seriously hurt the Pakistani industry
in so many ways. The Pakistani exports will decline and factories will close
down. One can understand that the Chinese investment will create some jobs; but
one doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that when exports
decline and factories close down that will also result in unemployment.
It must also be understood that the Chinese are not even investing for
some utopian ideals. Their purpose is to accumulate wealth and advance China’s
agenda on the back of Pakistan. Those who invest money don’t do it for
charitable purposes. Interest of Pakistan is not on top of the Chinese agenda.
In pursuance of excessive profits and its strategic hegemonic designs in the
region, China will invest this colossal amount, and Pakistan, as a country, may
get some trivial financial benefits.
However, Pakistan may benefit from Chinese military presence, in the
sense that, China will help Pakistan to crush any opposition to Islamabad’s
rule. Also, the Chinese presence can help Pakistan to protect Gwadar; and
discourage India and other hostile countries from any military adventures.
Under guise of the CPEC, China will control strategically and
commercially important Gwadar. It will present China with new commercial,
business and military opportunities; and it will become a Chines navy post in
future, which will help Beijing to increase its influence in the Gulf of Oman,
the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. China will use natural resources of
Gilgit Baltistan and Balochistan to advance its idea of the New World Order.
China will also help to stabilise Afghanistan, as that and control of
Gilgit Baltistan, Balochistan and presence of the Chinese military and secret
agencies in various parts of Pakistan will help China to strike at the supply
of Mujahidin to its restive Xinjiang province. China’s strategy is to negotiate
and engage with the Taliban leadership and play a more proactive role in
Afghanistan for these very economic and commercial interests. China’s main
interest is to use or rent the Pakistan military machine for these hegemonic
purposes.
The Pakistan writer, Lal Khan asserts:
‘To expect such a greedy ruling clique
to alleviate poverty in Pakistan through investment is absurd to say the least.
This “friendship” gimmickry is to mock and deceive the ordinary people. The
Pakistani ruling class is no less mean and reactionary. Power is only traded
and bought for more loot and plunder. Lenin wrote in his epic work, Imperialism the Highest stage of
Capitalism, that “a capitalist country acquires an imperialist role when it
begins to export capital.” China is the largest exporter of capital in the
world. It is the biggest investor in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Its evil
designs on Baluchistan and Pakistan are the same as those of the American and
other, world and regional imperialist states’. 8
Is hidden agenda not
so much hidden now?
After Pakistani newspaper Dawn’s
detailed report on the CPEC, based on which one can write a book, it becomes
clear that the CPEC has a big hidden agenda. In view of many Pakistani and
Indian writers it is more sinister than originally perceived. It will make
Pakistan a testing ground for the Chinese products, especially when thousands
of acres of fertile Pakistani land will be handed over to the Chinese for
‘demonstration projects’. What are these demonstrations projects? Are they
going to test their fertilizers and other chemical products in agricultural
fields of Pakistan?
The Dawn report notes: ‘For
instance, thousands of acres of agricultural land will be leased out to Chinese
enterprises to set up “demonstration projects” in areas ranging from seed
varieties to irrigation technology. A full system of monitoring and
surveillance will be built in cities from Peshawar to Karachi, with 24-hour
video recordings on roads and busy marketplaces for law and order. A national
fibre optic backbone will be built for the country not only for internet
traffic, but also terrestrial distribution of broadcast TV, which will
cooperate with Chinese media in the “dissemination of Chinese culture…The plan
envisages a deep and broad-based penetration of most sectors of Pakistan’s
economy as well as its society by Chinese enterprises and culture. Its scope
has no precedent in Pakistan’s history in terms of how far it opens up the
domestic economy to participation by foreign enterprises’. 9
According to the
figures provided by the World Bank:
· The
US economy is still the largest with 18 trillion;
· and
China stands at number two with 11 trillion US dollars.
· The
American share in the world economy is 24.3%;
· and
the Chinese share is 14.8%.
However, according
to the IMF report:
· the
American economic growth for the year 2016, was only 1.6%;
· and
that of China was 6.7 %.
Despite American
slow down, it will take China a long time to catch up or compete with America
because the gap of 7 trillion is too large.
In the World Economic
Ranking:
· Japan
is at number three with $4.4 trillion;
· Germany
at number four with 3.3 trillion;
· Britain
is the fifth largest economy with 2.9 trillion;
· France
is number sixth with 2.4 trillion;
· India
holds the seventh place with 2 trillion. 10
Pakistan, the fort
of Islam, is the 43rd largest economy with 251.487. It is amazing to
see that countries like UAE, Israel, Hong Kong, Iran, Singapore, Egypt,
Nigeria, Malaysia, Ireland, South Africa, Philippines, Colombia are ahead of
Pakistan. 11
Is not intriguing that
China plans to build huge “coastal tourism” industry, the kind of enjoyment we
see in the West or in other Asian and African holiday resorts. Enjoyment
resorts which will have everything the tourists are looking for – night life, hotels,
restaurants, service industry, city parks, spas, beauty parlours, massage
centres, water sports, cruises, music, dances, cultural shows etc. Three
questions arise here:
1/ Is that in line
with the Islamic ethos of Pakistan which claims that the country was
established to advance cause of Islam?
2/ It is not too
difficult to establish these facilities in any place, especially when a big
loan is borrowed. However, question is, will these facilities be able to
promote sufficient activities to generate income to pay off the expenses and
pay the loan as well.
3/ Chinese and perhaps
visitors from the Middle East will reach here without visas, will people of
Pakistan get the same treatment when they visit China or the Middle Eastern
countries. Above all what impact will all this interaction and service industry
have on culture and society of Pakistan?
As
I have stated many times, all those who have opposed the CPEC faced sedition
and terrorism related charges; and this experience has been very successful,
because it has silenced most of the writers, political workers, human rights
defenders and social media activists. It looks they will spend most of their
lives in jails and benefit from the CPEC.
It
is claimed that once the CPEC is fully functional, it will have more than 7,000
containers travelling every day on the roads, which will be built by borrowing
money on high interest rates. Pakistan, as a nation, have a great experience in
getting big loans; and then borrow more money to pay off the instalments of the
original loan.
It
is still not clear if these big containers will pay any toll for using these
roads and transporting Chinese goods, but one thing is clear that to build
these wide and long roads Pakistan had to cut more than 50,000 trees. These
7,000 containers and cutting of more than 50,00 trees will surely have some
impact on the environment.
China
will stop generating electricity by coal; and because they love Pakistan so
much that they will transfer all their equipment to bolster friendship which is
already higher than Himalayas and deeper than sea and sweeter than honey.
Pakistan will reciprocate its friendship by buying coal generated energy from
them, and face the environmental problems.
Mountains
of Balochistan and Gilgit Baltistan are full of natural resources; and Chinese
are also aware of that. The CPEC projects will provide an opportunity to
Chinese to explore and extract these resources. Pakistanis will not mind this,
after all China is a friend; and good friends always help each other. In any
case, Pakistanis have a little interest in taking any benefit from these
resources. Why take trouble of extracting these natural resources when it is so
easy to borrow money from different countries and international financial
institutions.
China
has also ensured that the local people of Gwadar will get some employment
opportunities. When there will be tourist resorts established in Balochistan
and in Sindh, that will attract foreign tourists, especially from the Middle
East and China. Presence of tens of thousands of Arab and Chinese tourists will
require local people to provide service to these people. It will also produce
plenty of garbage, plastic and glass bottles, paper and plastic bags etc. This
will employ Pakistani kids to collect them and earn their living. Also, they
will provide different kinds of services to tourists; and that will bring in
some money; and sadly, for money, the Pakistani elite can even sell their own people, and
interests of Pakistan.
"This is my land of
Gilgit-Baltistan -- not that of Pakistan or China"
Despite presence of security people of both countries, a local man, Ali
Qurban while expressing his patriotism and concern about Islamabad’s
subservient attitude towards Beijing bravely said:
"This is my land of Gilgit-Baltistan -- not that of Pakistan or
China."
He feared that complicity of Islamabad and Beijing will result in the local
people losing their rights and resources.
Ali Qurban further said: ‘The government and the military have
"paralysed the people here, adding they are suppressed "as Uighurs
are suppressed by the Chinese government in Xinjiang. Beijing is closely
monitoring Muslim Uighurs, saying that extremists from the minority are in
hiding in Pakistan — a claim that has been supported by local security sources.
The decision-makers will decide for themselves what the benefit of the
economic corridor is". 12
Sost is a small town, which is a gateway of the CPEC, and links China
with Pakistan via our territory of Gilgit Baltistan. Even without the CPEC,
Pakistan earns millions of dollars in custom duties and trade, but the local
people get nothing. The border town and the gateway is controlled by secret
agents of both countries, what they say or do matters; and local people dare
not say or do anything to warrant their wrath.
One local man said, ‘SOST
- a glossy highway and hundreds of lorries transporting Chinese workers by the
thousands: the new Silk Road is under construction in northern Pakistan, but
locals living on the border are yet to be convinced they will receive more from
it than dust’. 13
Another local man, Noor – e Din expressed his bitterness by saying that "The
Chinese care only for their own economic interest”, and “We risk
spending our days counting trucks as they drive past." 14
The sense of alienation in Gilgit Baltistan is increasing as more and
more information about the CPEC is made public. They feel there is nothing
there for them; ‘shadowy political and security factors also contribute to
the sense of alienation in Gilgit: such as Beijing and Islamabad's apparent
efforts to clamp down on the restive regions that surround the corridor. In
Gilgit-Baltistan, the most famous local militant nationalist, Baba Jan, has
been imprisoned for "terrorism" since 2011 for organising an anti-government
demonstration’. 15
Because of the growing attacks on the CPEC related
projects and on the employees, both China and Pakistan have put in place a very
comprehensive security system. Of course, the Chinese nationals are more
important compared to the local labour; so, the Chinese will get special
attention and VIP security. In this regard, Beijing does not fully trust the
Pakistani security personnel and they have appointed their own army and
security to protect their nationals.
A special army division consisting of 32,000 security
personnel will provide security to over 14,321 Chinese workers, who will be
working on 210 projects. Originally a three-layer
security plan was planned, but increasing activities of rebels have forced
Islamabad and Beijing to upgrade to security system with four – layer security
to protect the CPEC route.
The CPEC Project Director, retired Major General, Zahir
Shah asserted that ‘the Chinese are pretty much
satisfied with the new security plan. 16
According to the new plan Balochistan will receive more
attention, said an official of the Ministry of Interior; and six wings
consisting of 5,700 personnel of the Frontier Corps, 3,000 police, and 1,000
Levies personnel will be responsible for security the CEPC related projects and
routes in Balochistan. Apart from that, the Gwadar port and adjoining routes
will be protected by Pakistan Marines and border security forces. Additionally,
more than 3,500 policemen, 900 Rangers and 4,100 private security guards and
740 Askari Guards will help to protect the CPEC. 17
What people say
about the CPEC?
After seeing the
Dawn report on the CPEC many people commented on this. I have selected some
comments for the readers and hope that they will see different dimensions of
the problems.
A Pakistani reader, SYED ANJUM ALI wrote:
As far as
I can judge, the CPEC master scheme holds very dubious promises- in terms of
land/agricultural use, what lands will be leased out to the Chinese and at
whose cost? I don't see Pakistani farmers flourishing, in fact Pakistan will be
colonialized by Chinese who will come in and set up their own farms on
Pakistani soil, using GE and other possibly harmful inputs. This whole scheme
seems to be a huge environmental-ecological disaster in the making, especially
in the North (forests and hills) and South (marine and riverine systems).
Further, a number of the schemes seem unsustainable in economic terms,
especially in debt servicing. And, another question that comes to mind, if this
is indeed an 'equal' business venture then why will only Chinese get visa free
entry to Pakistan? Will Pakistanis get similar privileges for entry to all
areas of China? Please, Pakistan must be very careful in entering any such
deal.
Another Pakistani, AFZAL NADIR, wrote:
it is a
matter of concern that Pak Government is still unable to tell the people of
Pakistan about terms and conditions of Chinese Investments, rate of return
offered to the Chinese investors, nature and tenure of agreements, estimated
benefits to Pakistan economy and many other questions which arise in the minds
of general educated Pakistanis. Being a professional accountant and economist,
I am still in dark side about all these projects. The interest rate which is
offered to Chinese investor as I came to know is just enormous and scarring
one. It is more than a rate on soft loans from WB, IMF and ADB. our financial
managers and decision makers must keep in mind that if Pakistan is not
benefited from these projects then their success will be a big question.
KASPAR wrote:
When
Chinese companies are guaranteed profits and given tax exemptions, have
exclusive rights to set up industries on Pakistani soil, Chinese nationals are
allowed to enter the country without visa, given thousands of acres of
agricultural land to meddle with Pakistani agriculture, Pakistani highways and
railways are mortgaged to them, Gwadar port handed over on a silver platter
including the responsibility to 'protect' sea lanes, what is left for the
Pakistan? The plight of Pakistani workers would be worse, because they have not
been guaranteed employment in projects run by the Chinese through Chinese
companies. Pakistani government would perhaps simply watch, provide protection
to Chinese companies and workers, and prepare to pay the unsustainable loans, or
end up handing over land and ports and highways to Chinese control. The rulers
may have their hidden agenda but this may be the first example in history of a
state voluntarily handing control of its economy to a foreign power!
TRUTH V2 wrote:
So,
Pakistan borrowing $50 billion from China. Construction awarded to Chinese
companies. They employ Chinese workers in land leased from Pakistan farmers.
All the final products are sold back to Pakistan. Money earned by Chinese
companies goes back to China. Interest and principal amount borrowed to be
returned to Chinese (not sure how the government is going to return the money
without making any).
Thank you
CPEC, thank you China - Good luck Pakistan!!
PK wrote:
Now we
understand why India does not want to be part of plan… as it doesn't want to be
reoccupied. Simple!!
SYED F. HUSSAINI
This is
China's plan for Pakistan. Where is Pakistan's plan for Pakistan?
ALI wrote: Hope this
is not another East India Company.
MOHAJIR wrote:
This is
nothing but scary. China has all plans to take over agriculture and textile
sectors of Pakistan. They have all plans to flood Pakistan with not only their
goods but their culture as well.
AHAMD wrote:
I read
full report. Everywhere it is mentioned that China will build factories, roads,
lie down fibre optics, will start own agriculture, etc. I just couldn't find
what would be Pakistan doing? Is Pak doing anything else other than just
leasing land (even 1000s of acres of agriculture land). CPEC Mubarak.
(Reference for all the comments, see 18
below).
Conclusion
According to 2017 Budget:
·
Pakistan has to
pay 1366 billion Rupees per annum interest, excluding the actual amount, on the
existing loans.
·
It must be noted
that the country’s development budget is only 1000 billion Rupees.
·
Pakistan’s imports
have increased to 46 billion US dollars;
·
and exports have
decreased from 24 billion to 20 billion.
To make matters worse, remittances from Azad
Kashmiri and Pakistani Diaspora has also declined considerably. Furthermore,
tens of thousands of expatriates are being sent home from various Middle
Eastern countries, which will reduce the income and will create social and
political problems. On top of that when the CPEC loans and its interest is also
included then lion’s share of the budget will go on paying interest of the
loans.
In view of the above, question is, for how
long Pakistani government will fool people; and for how long the country can
survive like this?
Will Pakistan be able to pay back the loans
with high interests? What will happen if Pakistan is unable to pay back?
Despite lofty claims of consensus among
provinces, there are strong reservations among certain sections of the
community. Alam Mehsud, head of Pakhtunkhwa
Ulasi Tehrik said:
“We have not won our
share in CPEC as claimed by the chief minister. We will not accept the ‘Punjabi
corridor’ or the decisions made by the Chief Minister along with the Chinese
government in Beijing.” 19
There are serious reports of law and order
situation in KPK and in Balochistan; and that will threaten the CPEC related
projects and transport. Senator Afrasiab Khatak says Pakistan has, once again, used jet fighters to kill and
destroy terrorist infrastructure in North Waziristan and Khyber Agency. The
local media has reported many incidents where militants attacked security
forces and members of peace committees in various parts of FATA with many
casualties. In his article published in a Pakistani English Daily the Nation,
he writes:
‘Taliban belonging to Mulla Nazir group
(good Taliban allied with Haqqani network) picked up Azizullah Wazir, local
leader of ANP, from Wana bazaar. The group is reportedly functioning like local
administration with the blessings of civil and military authorities’. 20
Pakistani claims of
eradicating terrorism and terrorist groups can be judged by this fact that ‘Senator
Saleh Shah of JUI-F revealed in the meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on
Interior on 22 May (2017) that different TTP factions have been allowed by
authorities to open offices in Bannu, Tank and Dera Ismail Khan, the three
southern districts adjacent to Waziristan… Basically, military operations in
FATA had no civilian oversight. The area still remains a black hole and a no-go
area for national and international media (except of course the journalists
embedded with the army). So, there isn’t any independent source to monitor the
claims of the ISPR’. 21
Much publicised
military actions against terrorist groups, including Zarb e Azb and Radul
Fassad seem to be ineffective or were carried out half-heartedly, because
different groups of Taliban are returning to FATA. If they were to be allowed
to return to FATA, then what was the purpose of the military operations and
death and destruction? Senator Asrasiab Khatak writes:
‘As long as the
country’s security establishment is supporting Taliban’s war against the Afghan
state it needs FATA as a base camp for this war and the reforms promises can
wait. The second challenge comes from the formidable black economy of the area.
It includes the huge drug trade, human trafficking, gun running, commodities
smuggling across the border and unaudited funds of the political agents. Huge
amounts of money change hands every 24 hours. After reaching the upper echelons
of the ruling elites it turns into anaesthesia as far as the implementation of
reforms is concerned. 22
World renowned Moody’s Investors
Service, in its report published on 8 May 2017, has predicted that
Pakistan’s external debt will grow to $79 billion by June this year,
higher than initial estimates suggested, and the country’s weak fiscal strength
will weigh in on its ability to afford the ever- growing debt burden. 23
With growing loans, with increasing
imports and declining exports, with declining remittances from the Kashmiri and
Pakistani Diaspora, and with increasing dissent and law and order situation,
can Pakistan seriously manage the CPEC projects and issues related to the CPEC
and its security?
Reference:
1. Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd, 2015.
2. http://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/cpec-an-existential-threat-to-baloch-khan-of-kalat/1061042
3.
Ibid
4.
Ibid
5. Statement of a Conference jointly arranged by International Human Rights
Defenders and Members of the European Parliament on 25th Nov 2015,
Strasbourg. Title: CHINA IN PAKISTAN: GROWING HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS in the
European Parliament in Strasbourg. The conference was attended by more than 120
participants from European Parliament, Civil Society and European Union. info@ihrda.net
6.
Ibid
8.
Ibid
13.
Ibid
14.
Ibid
15.
Ibid
17.
Ibid
19.
Published
in The Express Tribune, May 1st, 2017.
21.
Ibid
22.
Ibid
