Scholars
term CPEC an
oppressive design of Pakistan
February 6, 2019
Scholars, former
diplomats, human rights activists and journalists from various parts of the
world gathered in Paris to discuss the implications of the multi-billion dollar
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. Reported ANI News.
While discussing the
CPEC’s legal, geo-strategic, economic and environmental impacts, the
participants during a seminar argued that acquiring control of trade inevitably
translates into governmental influence.
“CPEC is just another way
to exploit Baloch people. First of all it is an economic method. It is a method
of land compensation and is a method of depriving local people of jobs and
natural resources. An area which is already being deprived, all the economic
benefits of CPEC is going into Punjabis and Chinese pockets. The local people
have no benefits,” Francesca Marinoa, a journalist from Italy noted.
Activists have long
blamed China and Pakistan, who together aim to change the demography of
Balochistan while highlighting the atrocities which are being committed against
innocent Baloch people.
Along with this,
activists have also claimed that the CPEC is illegal and that the indigenous
people of Balochistan and illegally occupied Gilgit Baltistan, from where the
corridor passes, have been stripped away of their natural resources.
“We Baloch people see
CPEC as an attempt to occupy our land and our resources. It is a try to grab
the lands and ‘debalochise’ Balochistan. They have started from Gwadar and we
don’t know till where they want to go. But people of Gwadar don’t have water to
drink, don’t have food and can’t go fishing. So life in Gwadar is miserable.
Baloch people are protesting for days and nights but nobody is listening to
them,” Naela Quadri Baloch, the President of the World Baloch Women’s
Forum noted at the conference.
Mahdin Baloch, a senior
leader from the Balochistan National Movement (BNM), added, “CPEC has
exaggerated Baloch sun sight. Unfortunately, we have between 1 to 2 million
people who would be displaced as a consequence. There have been aerial bombardments
of CPEC routes and also make way for the routes. It really means the end of
Baloch as people. Balochistan has become an Islamist safe haven, unfortunately,
and the rail route of high connectivity will only benefit the Islamist’s route
operating in Balochistan which is already sponsored fully by the Pakistani
Army. It also means that they will be sent into Afghanistan and to the LoC to
cause even more deaths of innocents in Kashmir and Western Capital cities.”
They also allege that the
CPEC project has only brought death and destruction for the local people
instead of economic opportunities.
“People have been
resisting that our land has been occupied. If the land is under occupation, the
state which has occupied it does not have any right to design mega projects or
strategic on that land. So this question should have been solved before going
beyond that the how this design will benefit people,” Munir Mengal, the
President of the Baloch Voice Association also stated at the conference while
outlining the plight of the Baloch civilians.
A journalist from Israel,
Anna Reitman also said, “I do think that any development projects do show
enormous opportunities but I also think that Baloch people have been made a lot
of promises that have come to very little. Some of those issues were presented
today. How this will unfold in a time when there is enormous multi-political
uncertainty across quite a few regions and as well as I don’t think it’s going
out on a lame to say that our nuclear proliferation, the risks of that are
increasing. Within that context, I do think that this presents some of the risk
factors that are coming together present enormous danger for the people living
in that region.”
Participants in the
conference also highlighted that those who have opposed CPEC have been
subjected to violent crackdowns and torture under the pretext of anti-terrorism
laws.
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