Pakistan’s Military Cooperation with Israel

Pakistan’s Military Cooperation with Israel

Pakistan’s secret military cooperation with Israel raised serious questions about its circumventive policy towards the Arab world. During the last three decades, Israel and Pakistan had a constructive rapprochement to coordinate their stances on the Afghan issue and exchange military information. There was a turning point in the country’s foreign policy, when Pakistan worked closely with Israel in Afghanistan during the Soviet intervention in 1980s. After a successful operation against the Palestinians in 1970, General Zia-ul-Haq (From Pakistan) was awarded Jordan’s highest honour for the services rendered.

Gen Zia, who led the operation as Brigadier General deployed in Jordan at that time. It was said that in this war around 5,000 to 7,000 Palestinians were killed, although Yasser Arafat claimed the death toll was more like 25,000. The Operation was on the direct order of Jordanian King Hussein. Israeli General Moshe Dayan noted to King Hussein that:

“Hussein killed more Palestinians in eleven days than Israel could kill in twenty years.”

After the Operation Black September, Gen Zia became most favourite person to the state of Israel. At that time, Zia was the only figure in Pakistan Army whom Israel could trust and could make good political and military relations with his country. In Afghan war, Israel was one of the most important countries that assisted Pakistan in weapons and training to the Afghan Mujaheddin. Israel’s intelligence agency MOSSAD assisted Pakistan in training Afghans near the Pak-Afghan border.

The Russian weapons which captured from PLO in Lebanon by Israel Defence Force (IDF) were given to Pakistan and ISI supplied all weapons to the Mujaheddin against the USSR. Israel has accomplished many missions along with Pakistan because Pakistan and Israel are both good allies of the US. General Zia likewise, surprised many observers in March 1986, when he called on the PLO to recognize the Jewish state.

Operation Cyclone was the code name for the American CIA to arm and finance Afghan Mujaheddin prior to and during the Afghan/Soviet war. American CIA and Pakistani ISI worked shoulder to shoulder against the Soviet Regime. The USSR was the number one financier of Palestinian terrorist organisations such as the PLO. Pakistan’s ISI had established professional relations with Israel’s Mossad and had secretly passed on intelligence data to Mossad. ISI had intercepted information that Israeli civilians may be targeted in a terrorist attack in India during September and November 2008. It was reported by Wiki Leaks that Pakistan’s Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha was in direct contact with Mossad. In 2013, Britain’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills revealed that: “In 2011, Israel allegedly exported military equipment to Pakistan via Britain; this equipment apparently included electronic warfare systems and aircraft parts”. However, Pakistan & Israel, both denied these claims.

In 2001, Pakistani Government through the ISI, passed intelligence to Israel about the Gulf States and the nuclear ambitions of Iran and Libya, whose programs Pakistani scientists had helped to build. In 2010, according to unconfirmed “leaked”(Wiki Leaks) American diplomatic cables, from October 2009, head of Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI, Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha provided intelligence about potential terrorist attacks in India to Israel through Washington. According to the cable,

“Gen Pasha had been in direct touch with the Israelis on possible threats against Israeli targets in India.”

A few weeks before the cable was written, the Israeli Counter-Terror Bureau had issued a travel advisory warning of possible attacks against Israeli sites in India. In 2011, Israel was alleged to have exported British military technology to Pakistan.

In 2015, Israeli scientist attended the scientific conference sponsored by Pakistan Academy of Sciences held in Lahore, Pakistan. In August 1997, the Ex- Chief of army staff from1988-91, General Mirza Aslam Beg said:

“Pakistan has no direct differences with Israel, therefore, was a third party to the dispute… We have no conflict with Israel, therefore we should not hesitate in recognising Israel.”

Whenever Pakistan recognises and establishes relations with Israel, it will not be the first Islamic country to do so. Since it has no direct disputes with Israel, Pakistan is not under any compulsion to seek a “cold peace” with Israel, and therefore has several options to choose from.

These options according to a writer P. R. Kumaraswamy are the Turkish model, it means Pakistan can recognize Israel without establishing diplomatic relations immediately, like an Iranian model, it can follow the precedent set by the Shah of Iran and recognise the Jewish state, but maintain its relationship under wraps, however, in the Jordanian model, the country can imitate the Jordanians and maintain close political as well as military relations with the Jewish state without granting any official recognition, and finally, in the Chinese model, it can adopt the Chinese example and view military contacts as a means of promoting political relations.”

At least in the foreseeable future, the political status of the relationship is likely to be tentative. While maintaining and even intensifying political contacts in private, both Israel and Pakistan will probably be extremely reluctant to discuss the nature and intensity of their contacts and relationship in public. Israel’s Relations with Pakistan would help dilute Islam-based opposition toward Israel and Pakistan should move closer to Israel because there are no bilateral disputes or conflicts between them. In search of historical contacts between both Armies and Intelligence agencies; I have absolutely no doubt that both countries still collaborate in secretive operations and work together to achieve their military benefits in the region. Pakistanis are intelligent people who keep the country safe and strong through professional governance strategies and cooperation with other nations.

The Ex-Army Chief and Former President of Pakistan, Mr Pervez Musharraf once said in June 2003:

“What is our dispute [with Israel]? I have been saying: ‘Should we be more catholic than the pope or more pious than the pope or more Palestinian than the Palestinians themselves? Is this the right attitude or should there be some change in it? There should be national consensus on it.”

Israel wanted Pervez Musharraf to stay in power; it was Israel’s national interest making Musharraf strong and in power.  Israel was concerned about Musharraf’s wellbeing and wanted him to remain on the seat with power in 2007. According to the Wiki Leaks cables from Tel Aviv’s American embassy:

“The Israeli spy chief Meir Dagan met US under-secretary Burns and said that he was concerned about how long then-Pakistani President Musharraf would survive, saying: “…he is facing a serious problem with the militants. Pakistan’s nuclear capability could end up in the hands of an Islamic regime.”

Gen Pervez Musharraf knew that Israel is a reality and it is not going away from the map of the world, he always insisted that making good relations with Israel, Pakistan will get political soft corner in the world. Relations with Israel could help Pakistan on the world’s political stage. In his first interview with Israeli Newspaper Haaretz, Pervez Musharraf stated that:

“Israel is a fait accompli”

He states. “A lot of the Muslim world has understood that and I know many Muslim countries have relations with Israel, whether above board or covertly. So this is the change in reality I am talking about. Pakistan has to keep demanding the resolution of the Palestinian dispute… [But] Pakistan also needs to keep readjusting it diplomatic stand toward Israel based on the mere fact that it exists and is not going away.”

To establish good relations with Jews and Israel is a tenet of Islam, Islam teaches Muslims to make good relations with other religions and Islam permits its followers to engage with people of other faiths. It is in the supreme national interest of Pakistan to recognise Israel and make diplomatic ties because recognition of Israel could solve the Israel Palestine conflict which was spoiled for centuries.

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/pakistans-military-cooperation-with-israel/

Pakistan No Place For Other Faiths

Pakistan No Place For Other Faiths- by Ajit Kumar Singh*

March 28, 2016

On early reports, at least 72 people have been killed and more than 300 injured in a suicide blast inside the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in the Iqbal Town area of Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab Province, on March 27, 2016. Lahore’s District Coordination Officer Muhammad Usman stated, “The bomber managed to enter the park and blew himself up near the kids’ playing area where kids were on the swings”. Significantly, a large number of people, mostly Christians were present in the park, celebrating Easter [Christendom’s holiest day].

The Jama’at-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a breakaway faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the suicide attack. JuA ‘spokesperson’ Ehsanullah Ehsan declared, “We had been waiting for this occasion. We claim responsibility for the attack on Christians as they were celebrating Easter. It was part of the annual martyrdom attacks we have started this year.” The operation was codenamed Saut-ul-Raad [Voice of Thunder]. JuA had declared its ‘support’ for Daesh (Islamic State, previously Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham, ISIS) in March 2015.

The bomber involved in the March 27, 2016, attack has been identified as Yousuf, son of Ghulam Farid, a resident of Muzzafargarh District in Punjab. According to preliminary investigations, the bomber had been teaching at a seminary for eight years in Lahore after completing his religious education in Dera Ghazi Khan District. SAIR has noted on numerous occasions in the past that most of the seminaries across Pakistan are breeding grounds for terrorism and Islamist extremism.

Even on the presently known fatalities, the Easter Sunday attack is the second worst ever targeting Christians inside Pakistan. In the deadliest attack on Christian minorities in Pakistan, at least 79 worshippers, including 34 women and seven children, were killed and another 130 were injured when two suicide bombers attacked a Christian congregation at the historic All Saints Church in the Kohati Gate area of Peshawar, the provincial capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province, on September 22, 2013. According to varying media reports, some 600 to 700 people were inside the church at the time of the attack.

There have been at least another four such attacks, resulting in 19 deaths, in the intervening period. The last terrorist attack targeting Christians was on March 15, 2015. At least 15 persons, including 13 Christians and two Policemen, were killed and more than 70 were injured, when two suicide bombers attacked two churches near the Youhanabad neighbourhood in Lahore, sparking mob violence in which two terrorists were killed. Youhanabad is home to more than 100,000 Christians. JuA had claimed responsibility for the attack as well.

According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least 21 terrorist attacks targeting Christians, resulting in at least 200 fatalities, have taken place across Pakistan since 2001. Some of the major incidents (each resulting in three or more fatalities) among these included:

March 10, 2010: Six persons, including two women, were killed and seven persons were injured when over a dozen terrorists armed with Kalashnikov rifles, pistols and hand-grenades attacked the office of World Vision International, a US-based Christian aid agency, in the Oghi village of Mansehra District in KP.

September 25, 2002: Seven persons were killed and another three were injured in a terrorist attack on a Christian welfare organisation’s office, Idara Amn-o-Insaaf (Institute for Peace and Justice), in Karachi District, the Provincial capital of Sindh Province. Lashkar-e-Islami Mohammadi (LIM), a little-known terrorist group, was blamed for the attack.

August 5, 2002: Six persons were killed and another four were injured in a terrorist attack on a Christian missionary school in the Jhika Gali Town of Murree tehsil (revenue unit) in Rawalpindi District of Punjab Province.

March 17, 2002: Five persons were killed and more than 40 were injured, including the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Pakistan, in a grenade attack during the Sunday morning service at the Protestant International Church located between the American and Russian Embassies in the heavily protected area of the Diplomatic Enclave in Islamabad. Amongst those killed were Barbara Green, wife of an American diplomat and her daughter; two Pakistanis and an Afghan. The injured belonged to different countries including USA, Britain, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Afghanistan, Iran, Ethiopia, Iraq and Sri Lanka.

October 28, 2001: 17 Christians – including five children – and a Policeman, were killed and nine persons were injured, when six gunmen opened fire on a church in the Model Town area of Bahawalpur District in Punjab Province.

The Christians constitute a meagre 1.6 percent of Pakistan’s population of 193 million. While they have been victims of terrorist atrocities, they have also been intermittently attacked in mass and targeted violence by Islamist extremists. Christians have, moreover, been systematically targeted by Pakistan’s perverse blasphemy laws, which prescribe a mandatory death sentence for any purported act bringing against Islam and its Prophet to disrepute. On May 24, 2015, Police arrested one Humayun Faisal Masih, a mentally ill person, who was burning newspapers in Sanda, a Christian locality, in Lahore. Muslim onlookers accused him of blasphemy, alleging that some of the pages contained verses of the holy Quran. A number of people gathered outside the Ravi Road Police Station and demanded that the accused be handed over to them. Simultaneously, a mob rampaged through the Christian neighbourhood. An unnamed local Christian stated, “some angry Muslims, some armed with guns, ransacked churches and attacked Christian residences and houses pelting stones… (there was) a horrific and gruesome scene of violence against the innocent women, children, and elderly.” According to reports, local Christians were warned of impending violence by Police, and many had fled the area before the attack began.

Underlining the complicity of the state in such incidents, the Supreme Court had observed, on March 13, 2013, that the Punjab Police had failed to protect the lives and properties of the inhabitants of Joseph Colony in Lahore. Notably, on March 9, 2013, hundreds of protesters turned arsonists and attacked some 160 houses and 80 shops belonging to Christians in Joseph Colony, a predominantly Christian locality in the Badami Bagh area of Lahore, just a day after allegations of blasphemy were levelled against a man in the region.

Christians have been the principal targets for alleged acts of blasphemy. Significantly, then Federal Minister for Minorities’ Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, was killed on March 2, 2011, by terrorists of Fidayeen-e-Muhammad, a TTP faction, and al Qaeda Punjab Chapter, for his opposition to the country’s blasphemy laws. The Christians are also attacked for opposing often forcible conversions to Islam. Asia Bibi, 46, who has been sentenced to death and has been in prison for the last four years following a conviction for blasphemy, in her memoir Blasphemy, describes how she had been asked to convert to Islam to ‘redeem herself’.

Terrorists and Islamist extremists have issued threats against the Christian community on several occasions. On May 18, 2011, for instance, in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s killing, the TTP vowed to fight with “new zeal” against “Our enemies… NATO, Jews and Christians.” In another such threat, in June 2008, an extremist group, Jesh Ahle-i-Alqiblat al-Jihadi al-Sari al-Alami [Army for the Direction of the Movement of Global Jihad], distributed pamphlets demanding that Christian Pakistanis convert to Islam or face death. The group declared, “every Muslim had a duty to take such action against Christians”. It also called on Muslims to attack and kill Christian foreigners.

Seeds of religious intolerance have been systematically sown in Pakistan since its inception in 1947 – and, indeed, even earlier, during the struggle for independence. There was a further and escalating radicalization during and after the regime of military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq. Since then, Pakistan has witnessed rising attacks against all minorities, including the Christians. According to the Annual Report, 2015, of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), between July 2013 and June 2014, 122 incidents of sectarian violence occurred in Pakistan, resulting in more than 1,200 casualties, including 430 fatalities. The report, thus observed, “Pakistan represents one of the worst situations in the world for religious freedom for countries not currently designated by the U.S. government as ‘countries of particular concern’… Pakistan continued to experience chronic sectarian violence targeting Shi’a Muslims, Christians, Ahmadi Muslims, and Hindus.”

Similarly, the Jinnah Institute of Pakistan in a report titled State of Religious Freedom in Pakistan 2015, stated that, during the period 2012-2015, at least 543 incidents of violence were carried out against religious minorities in Pakistan. Shias were targeted on at least 288 occasions during this period, followed by Hindus (91 occasions), Christians (88 occasions), and Ahamadiyas (76 occasions).

In another development that reiterates the fact that religious extremists have enormous support, national capital Islamabad was turned into a fortress as supporters of Mumtaz Qadri put the city under siege. Qadri was the bodyguard and killer of Salman Taseer, then Governor of Punjab and an advocate of the amendment of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. In a message on Twitter on March 27, 2016, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Asim Bajwa disclosed that the Army had been requisitioned by the Government to control situation and secure the ‘Red Zone’, the area which includes the Parliament House, Pakistan Secretariat, Supreme Court, Prime Minister’s House, President’s House, and Diplomatic Enclaves in Islamabad. Qadri was hanged on February 29, 2016. The hanging was followed by protests in most major towns of the country.

The seeds of religious extremism sown over the decades have brought Pakistan to the verge of virtual anarchy. State-backed extremism has made life impossible for minorities and, indeed, for Muslim sects deemed ‘deviant’ by the Sunni majority. Indeed, sectarian violence between Sunni factions is also a growing reality as takfiri ideologies (which arrogate to themselves the right to declare others ‘apostate’) take firm root across the country. State agencies continue to harness Islamist extremism and terrorism to extend their strategic agenda into the country’s neighbourhood – particularly in Afghanistan and India – creating wide spaces for armed extremism that have produced a bloody blowback in Pakistan as well. There is little evidence, however, of any radical review of this ‘strategy’ at present.

* Ajit Kumar Singh Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management

http://www.eurasiareview.com/28032016-pakistan-no-place-for-other-faiths-analysis/

The new Silk Road and the sea, JENNIFER MCKAY

The new Silk Road and the sea, JENNIFER MCKAY

The tales of the old Silk Road have captured the imagination of people across the world for centuries. A network of trade routes connecting east and west has linked ancient China with the wider world to trade in silks, spices, and other exotic commodities throughout recorded history. However, the term 'Silk Road' or 'Silk Route' did not come into common usage until coined by the German, Ferdinand von Richthofen, who made seven expeditions to China from 1868 to 1872. 

The trade routes, a network of roads and caravan routes that were sometimes barely more than rough tracks, started as far back as the Han dynasty (207 BC - 220 AD). These trade routes crossed to the west through Central Asia, India, and what is now Pakistan. Today, we can still see the remnants of some of those tracks in parts of Gilgit Baltistan, alongside the Karakoram Highway. 

A maritime Silk Route opened up between Chinese-controlled Giao Ch? (near Hanoi, in what is now modern Vietnam) sometime around the first century. It extended via ports on the coasts of India and Sri Lanka, all the way to Roman-controlled ports in Egypt and the Nabataean territories on the north eastern coast of the Red Sea. 

Today, a new 'Silk Road' is starting to wind its way from China down through Pakistan to the Arabian Sea, with the western corridor ending at Gwadar in Balochistan, and in the east, at Karachi. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is being constructed at a cost of USD 46 billion. Consisting of roads, rail and pipelines, the CPEC will shorten the distance between China and Europe, cutting the costs enormously of transporting goods, and oil and gas to the western provinces of China. The benefits to Pakistan are potentially enormous if managed properly. 

The CPEC is not without controversy. There has been considerable political debate between the Provinces and the Federal Government about the routes, actual benefits to Pakistan, jobs for Pakistanis, and the transparency of the deal with China. This is hardly surprising. 

This is the biggest project to come to Pakistan and every province wants the best deal for itself. However, in the end, it is what will bring the best overall outcomes for the nation that matters. China, as the investor, is also entitled to negotiate the best deal based on their needs. Debate is healthy but it should be productive, not destructive, and seek to achieve fair outcomes for all of Pakistan as well as the investor and partner in the project, China. 

Otherwise, this huge investment will be ineffective and aspects of it may even fade away. This would be a great loss of an outstanding economic long-term opportunity for Pakistan. 

Security has been a major topic of concern. A special security force has been tasked to protect the Chinese contractors and the infrastructure during construction and beyond. But while there has been considerable focus on the security of the land components, the maritime security aspects have received much less attention, at least by the media and the public. The whole point of CPEC is to open up shorter shipping routes to and from Europe and other markets for China's inland provinces. Without enhanced security of the main ports and Pakistan's territorial waters, the project will be at risk. The security of the port, and territorial waters of Pakistan through which ships to and from Gwadar and Karachi must sail, is paramount to the future viability of this trade route. 

'Sea blindness' seems to be an issue here. The 1,000 km coastline, extending from Iran in the west, and India to the east, already presents Pakistan with a number of security challenges though there is no doubt that the Pakistan Navy is capable of addressing these. But the CPEC will bring new considerations, which must be factored in. However, while the nation is highly supportive and aware of the Army's important role in the security of the country, few seem to give much thought to that of the Navy. Somehow, the wider population seems to be blind to the threats that come from the sea, perhaps because it does not resonate with our daily lives in the way the possibility of a terror attack in our cities does. The risks are real and there is no room for such blindness. The Indian Navy, for example, is building up its Navy with new warships, nuclear submarines and an aircraft carrier. Compare this to the Pakistan Navy and it is easy to understand the increasing imbalance in maritime deterrence. While talks between Pakistan and India are on the cards in the hope of reducing the bilateral threats, we cannot know what the future will hold. History tells us to be wary. 

Piracy poses a significant threat to shipping in the Arabian Sea and other major shipping routes around the world such as the Straits of Malacca. The economic cost of piracy and the taking of merchant marine ships have necessitated a rise in insurance premiums for shipping companies and clients. Some shipping companies have engaged private security companies to have armed protection teams onboard their ships. These issues raise the costs of merchant shipping and affect the viability of sea transport. Ships sailing to and from Gwadar and Karachi will be at risk of pirates who operate across a wide region, if maritime security is not at its optimum. 

The Pakistan Navy is already very experienced in international maritime security. It has for some time played an important and highly regarded role in two important Task Forces as part of the Maritime Security Operations that protect the Arabian Sea. Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) is a multinational coalition naval task force that works under a 25-nation coalition of the Combined Maritime Forces. Based in Bahrain it was established to monitor, inspect, board, and stop suspect shipping as a response in the "Global War on Terrorism" in the Arabian Sea, the Horn of Africa region, and to support maritime operations in the Indian Ocean. 

Established in 2009, the Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151) is also a multinational Naval Task Force set up to combat piracy attacks in the Gulf of Aden and off the eastern coast of Somalia. Its mission is to disrupt piracy and armed robbery at sea and to engage with regional and other partners to build capacity and capabilities to protect global maritime commerce and secure freedom of navigation. It operates in conjunction with the EU's Operation Atalanta and Nato's Operation Ocean Shield. At times, the Pakistan Navy has taken its turn in leading the Task Forces. According to my international defence sources, Pakistan's leadership was very highly regarded, as has been its overall participation. However, this has had little publicity here in Pakistan. 

The substantial experience gained from participation in these Task Forces will stand the Navy well in its role to provide maritime security for the CPEC. This new role could be transformative for the Navy in Pakistan through drawing greater attention to their role and the need for greater budgetary support for future requirements, which will need to be addressed in terms of ships, equipment and possibly manpower. 

Maritime exercises are being conducted with the Chinese Navy, which also has a strong interest in the maritime security of CPEC and to protect the massive investment. This will further enhance the Pakistan Navy's capabilities and extend its relationships with foreign maritime forces beyond the existing Task Force commitments. 

There is however, a significant issue which must be addressed. The Navy receives only a very small percentage of the Defence budget. This must be increased to meet the future needs of the nation's maritime security in an increasingly unstable region. New ships are expensive but required to expand the protection of maritime borders and the CPEC maritime route in territorial waters, as well as maintain commitments to other regional maritime security operations. The CPEC is a long-term project. It will take years to be fully operational and effective and to realise the full benefits for Pakistan and China as the investor and partner. New ships and equipment take time to procure so now is the time to start the process and this begins with larger budget allocations to facilitate procurement. 

If the CPEC is to truly fulfil its potential and become the new 'Silk Road', and provide Pakistan with broader economic opportunities, then the country must also invest in its own future. Maritime operations and security must take their place as a critical component to be included in all discussions and decision-making considerations, and the Navy must be fully equipped and resourced to meet the future requirements of a successful and secure nation state. 

http://www.brecorder.com/supplements/88/28469/

China Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Growing Rivalry in the Indian Ocean, Latheef Farook

China Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Growing Rivalry in the Indian Ocean, Latheef Farook

(This paper on China –Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Growing Rivalry in the Indian Ocean". was presented  by Sri Lankan journalist and author Latheef Farook at the two day International Conference on China-Pakistan Economic Co-operation in Islamabad 14 and 15 March 2016)

In the aftermath of the collapse of the former Soviet Union in December 1979, United States, Britain, Europe, Russia and Israel began invading and destroying Muslim countries in the Middle East and beyond in their drive to create Greater Israel by annexing  Syria and Iraq.

While the west was busy with their wars, China began peacefully entering African countries, concluding agreements and undertaking numerous development projects besides finding markets for its wide range of products.

As a result China’s trade with Africa which stood at around ten billion dollar in 2002 reached around 180 billion dollar in 2004. China’s four trillion dollar trade and seven million barrels of daily oil is transacted through the Indian Ocean sea route. 

Thus the Indian Ocean is indispensable to China. However there were fears that this sea trade route can be choked by blocking mainly Malacca Strait by hostile powers.

To overcome this threat China tied up with its longstanding trustworthy partner- Pakistan started building an alternate trade route as part of an ambitious 46 billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor-CPEC project.

The CPEC is unique in the sense that it connects China and Pakistan only. Also it connects China to the sea through the quickest route. Under this overall program China intends to build a web of networks such as the Southern Silk Road, the Central Asia Silk Road, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the CPEC.

It could be a pivot to China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) concept that aims to connect 60 countries on the Asia and European land mass. 

One of them was linking the strategically important Pakistani port of Gwadar in the Persian Gulf to China’s Xinjiang region through a vast network of highways and railways, upgrading and expanding infrastructure and overhauling of the transportation infrastructure, sea ports, imports oil and gas pipeline. This land route, shortens distance with the Gulf market by 10,000 kilometers, and it is bound to change the entire geo politics of the region.

One should not forget that one of the main reasons why the now collapsed Soviet Union dispatched troops to Afghanistan was to gain access to warm waters of Persian Gulf.

Thus the development of the strategically located port of Gwadar and a modern airport there also bound to raise concern from Gulf sheikhdoms, Tehran, Moscow to Washington, London, Paris, Tel Aviv and New Delhi.

China also developed its own strategy for the Indian Ocean by setting up a series of ports in friendly countries along the ocean's northern seaboard from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. 

The Chinese government is also planning a canal across the Isthmus of Kra, in Thailand, to link the Indian Ocean to China's Pacific coast -- a project on the scale of the Panama Canal. This could further tip Asia's balance of power in China's favor by giving China's expanding navy and commercial maritime fleet easy access   from East Africa to Japan and the Korean Peninsula.

Simultaneously China is cultivating its relations with countries of the region through aid, trade and defense agreements. One important factor pushing China to build alternative routes is the fact that  Indian navy, soon to be the third largest in the world after those of the United States and China, will function as an antidote to Chinese military expansion. 

 Pakistan

The CPEC will give Pakistani economy an unprecedented boost as the overall project involves development of ports, air ports, extensive road and railway networks, oil and gas pipelines linking Iran and many more.

Pakistan’s only coastline is on the Indian Ocean and it is vital for trade and energy supply besides preventing India from dominating the areas closest to Pakistan.  

Pakistan is   a country surrounded by many enemies. For example   India which played a decisive role in the breakup of Pakistan in 1971, has its own design on Pakistan under its   Greater India program that covers the entire South Asia and the India Ocean.

With its ambitious program to expand its influence on land and sea from Iran to   Thailand, India cannot view CPEC positively. 

Recently an Indian comentator said in a television discussion that Indian border is with Afghanistan. This  is cause for   concern  especially in view of  India’s deep involvement   in Afghanistan with more than a dozen consulate offces and  allegations of arming and funding separatist forces in Baluchsitan.

Already Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed India’s concern during his visit to China in 2015. The Indian Foreign Minister, Sushma Swaraj reportedly told Chinese Premier Xi Jinping that projects passing through Gilgit-Baltistan are "unacceptable" as they require road construction in territory India regards as its own.

However Chinese Premier dismissed the concerns, describing CPEC as a "commercial project"  that would not target any third party.  

Meanwhile the growing ties between India and Israel should be of concern to Pakistan in view of the two countries declared hostility towards Islam and Muslims.

Bharata Janatha Party,BJP ,one of the deceptive fronts of Hindu extremist  Rashtriya Swayam Sevak,RSS, was elected to power.  RSS’s  declared agenda is to turn India into Hinduraj and openy demand that Muslims either convert to Hinduism or leave the country. 

Israel, on the otherhand, reported to have  spent more than 281 crore Indian rupees  to bring to power BJP   led by Prime Minister  Mr Narendara Modi, the architect of Godhra massacre of Muslims.

Thus the growing Indian Israel ties is deadly threat Pakistan’s very existence.India has now lined up with the United States,Britain,Europe and Israel  polarising the world into two groups competing for its zone of influence in the india Ocean. The fear that Gwadar may one day become a Chinese naval base also troubles New Delhi.

 United States

One of the biggest Challenges United states is facing in the world politics is in the Indian Ocean where both China and India are emerging as the major maritime and economic powers and posing challenge to US’s decades of hegemony. 

It is common knowledge that USA is manipulating regional states to push countries away from Chinese Camp to obstruct China’s expansion in the South China Sea as well as in East China Sea. USA does not want the region to be dominated by any single state because that would seriously jeopardize USA’s long term economic interests as well as disturb the balance of power in the region.

This is specially so in view of the shifting of economic center from the west to the east. If controlled by any [Asian] nation, key choke points in the Indian Ocean, including the Strait of Malacca, the Strait of Hormuz, and Bab el Mandeb, could tilt the balance of trade further towards Asia.

In the Indian Ocean region the United States also has a naval presence in Bahrain, Djibouti and Diego Garcia and engages in exercises with various African, Asian and Middle Eastern countries along the Indian Ocean coastline.

Under the new Washington, Tel Aviv and New Delhi axis, U.S. is courting India to assign the lead role in the Indian Ocean, which is unacceptable to both China and Pakistan. In fact, India’s cozying up to powers that China is suspicious of, compels China and Pakistan to strengthen their alliance further. China-Pakistan strategic naval partnership centered on Gwadar will scuttle the Indo-U.S. ambition of dominating the Indian Ocean. 

Europe

Europe has strong economic and security interests in the Indian Ocean. European countries are working to obtain rights to mine the seabed of the Indian Ocean for valuable metals, with some foreseeing a rush in the coming years. In addition, European countries have substantial fishing interests; Sri Lanka’s fisheries minister estimates they harvest 48 Percent  in the Indian Ocean

Middle East despite its vast resources, military and economic power is in turmoil due to on going US led European-Israeli wars and the treachery of the dictators installed in power by the west to serve them obediently.

Iran is the other emerging power of the Indian Ocean with control of the most crucial Strait of Hormuz, a transit passage responsible for the supply of oil to most of the world   can potentially be the cause of triggering conflict in the region. 

 As rightly pointed out by Salman Rafi Sheikh, research-analyst of International and Pakistan affairs, Indian Ocean has become the hub of political, strategic and economic activities because of the presence of conventional and nuclear vessels of the major powers in the area and because of its own economic and strategic significance.

One columnist pointed out that Indians and the Chinese are likely to enter into a dynamic great-power rivalry in these waters, with their economic interests as major trading partners locking them in an uncomfortable embrace; while Pakistan would continue to assert its position by establishing alliance with China and by building its own capacity, especially naval power.

He added that what is becoming obvious as things unfold is that no single state would be able to dominate the region singularly; therefore, a sort of multilateral set up will have to be established whereby each country can “equitably” pursue its goals.  

Thus the discussions taking place today in Islamabad at the International Conference on China-Pakistan economic cooperation dealing with challenges and opportunities are bound to attract the attention of countries near and far.  Ends

Not Opposed To Chinese Troops In Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir: Hurriyat

Not Opposed To Chinese Troops In Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir: Hurriyat

Hard-line Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Geelani has justified the presence of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

It said that “unlike India, PLA has not forcibly occupied Azad Kashmir and they are there due to mutual agreement between China and Pakistan.”

Hurriyat Conference also rejected former chief minister Omar Abdullah’s assertion that separatists have maintained silence over the presence of the PLA troops along the Line of Control in PoK. The party said Omar had no moral justification to criticize separatists.

“Azad Kashmir is now a part of the Pakistan-China economic corridor and pro-freedom people here have no reason to oppose presence of the PLA there. China is a strong supporter of right to self-determination of Kashmiri people so it is in no way fair to compare the Chinese army with occupational forces of India,” the spokesman said.

After frequent incursions in Ladakh area, PLA troops were spotted at forward posts along the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side of Kashmir. This could have raised the worries of Indian security agencies.

The Hurriyat Conference said China will not do anything which will endanger sovereignty and Jammu & Kashmir after it attains “freedom from India.”

The spokesman said Kashmiris were thankful to China for its unconditional support to their freedom struggle.

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Chinese Army spotted along LoC in Pak-occupied Kashmir

Chinese Army spotted along LoC in Pak-occupied Kashmir

By: PTI | Srinagar March 13, 2016

Army has officially maintained complete silence on the issue but have been constantly updating various intelligence agencies about the presence of PLA troops along the Line of Control.

After frequent incursions in Ladakh area, Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops have been spotted at forward posts along the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side of Kashmir, ringing alarm bells in the security grid.

The Army has spotted presence of senior PLA officials at the forward posts opposite Nowgam sector in North Kashmir after which some intercepts of Pakistani army officers suggested that the Chinese troops have come to create some infrastructure along the LoC, sources in the know of developments said on Sunday.

Army has officially maintained complete silence on the issue but have been constantly updating various intelligence agencies about the presence of PLA troops along the Line of Control, the sources said.

The PLA troops were first spotted in the later part of the last year and ever since their presence was witnessed opposite Tangdhar sector as well. In this area, Chinese government-owned China Gezhouba Group Company Limited has been building a Jhelum-Neelum 970 MW Hydel power project.

The hydel project is being built in response to India’s Kishanganga power project being built in Bandipore of North Kashmir. The Indian project is designed to divert water from the Kishanganga River to a power plant in the Jhelum River basin and will have an installed capacity of 330 MW.

Construction on the project began in 2007 and is expected to be complete this year.

The intercepts also suggested that Chinese PLA would be digging some tunnels in Leepa Valley, located in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), to build an all-weather road which will serve as an alternate route to reach Karakoram Highway.

The visit by PLA officials is seen by experts as part of Beijing’s 46 billion dollar China-Pakistan-Economic Corridor (CPEC) under which Gwadar port in Karachi is linked to Chinese Xinjiang province through Karakoram highway, an area under illegal occupation of China.

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/chinese-army-spotted-along-loc-in-pak-occupied-kashmir/

Assuaging the complexities of the Kashmir Issue by freezing it! Junaid Qureshi

Distinguished guests,

Before starting with my speech, I would like to congratulate the organizers for hosting such an important and successful event at this epitome of diplomacy. I am thankful to you for inviting me once again to share my views and become part of your endeavours. I am hopeful that going forward, you and I can together strive to provide more space to the youth of Jammu & Kashmir, in order to enable them to share their views in such august gatherings.

Being a Kashmiri Muslim from the Valley of Kashmir, makes me worry about the injustice and human right violations there. At the same time, I - as a Kashmiri - am equally concerned about the fate of the Kashmiris living in Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan Administered Kashmir, Jammu & Ladakh.

For me, the State of Jammu & Kashmir comprises much more than the Kashmir Valley only.

I am here as a representative of the whole state of Jammu & Kashmir. A state which belongs to all State Subjects, irrespective of their religion, caste, creed or colour. A state which is equally mine as it is of Dogras, Kashmiri Pandits, Bakarwals, Dards, Baltis, Ladakhis, Pushwaris, Gujjars and all other ethnicities.

It is with the utmost respect and with the utmost pain as well, that I have to conclude that the international community of Human Rights defenders along with the United Nations has failed us Kashmiris.

It couldn’t stop Pakistan from proposing changes to the clauses of the UN resolutions on Jammu & Kashmir and thereby allowed the issue to transform into a mere territorial dispute between India and Pakistan.   

Since the dawn of the 22^nd of October, 1947, it has also failed in freeing my land from invading forces.

It could not prevent Pakistan from gifting more than 5000sq miles of Jammu & Kashmir to China under the pretext of their Border Agreement of 1963.    

It failed again when the issue of 20 million Kashmiris was further marginalized into a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan when they both signed the Shimla Agreement.

It failed to act when a proxy war was started by the Pakistani military establishment in the Kashmir Valley, whereby it used innocent young Kashmiris as sacrificial lambs.

It also, did not react when human right violations were committed by the Indian Security Forces.

It silently watched when ethnic cleansing of my Kashmiri Pandit brethren took place by the hands of fundamentalists.

And currently, it is silently silent when Pakistan is undertaking steps to formally annex Gilgit Baltistan, while China is aiming to cement its stake in the Kashmir-issue by building an illegal economic corridor through this part of Jammu & Kashmir.  

Both these actions of Pakistan and China are deliberate attempts to further exacerbate the complexities of the Kashmir-Issue and jeopardize any kind of solution while totally negating the interests of the people of Jammu & Kashmir.     

The Kashmir-issue along with its many interrelated layers like proxy warfare, political and historical sensitivities and the contention over water resources remains the biggest threat to peace and development in South-Asia. Sadly, we Kashmiris continue to suffer the heaviest losses because of the hostility between India and Pakistan.

Let’s face it, ladies and gentlemen.

We all have failed in solving the Kashmir-Issue and liberating the Kashmiri people and the common people of India and Pakistan from uncertainty and hostility.

Yet, my longing for peace has not been extinguished. It is because of this deep desire for peace that I have come here again.

With a wish.

A wish to stop the bloodshed and the destruction of my generation.  

A wish of peace.

Peace, which should be superior to anyone’s ideology or stated positions. We Kashmiris are fed-up with this violence. This borrowed gun has brought us to the edge of destruction. It has looted us from our dignity and snatched our identity. It has corrupted our pillars of secularism, brotherhood, tolerance and Kashmiriyat.

It must stop before it obliterates our very existence.

The Kashmir-Issue undoubtedly requires a political solution, but first the people of Kashmir, India and Pakistan are in urgent need of liberation from fear and uncertainty.

Maybe solving the Kashmir-Issue is a task too great for our generation. Perhaps we should be compelled to conclude from the past 70 odd years that solutions can only be found in an atmosphere of tranquillity, which we have failed to conceive.  

Based on that, I think that we all should try to establish that atmosphere of tranquillity, so that the next generation might have a much more realistic chance to solve this deadlock.

I have come here to make an appeal to the International Community, the United Nations and the human rights defenders present here; We Kashmiris need your help in facilitating an atmosphere of tranquillity, mutual trust and dialogue between India and Pakistan which could pave the way for an alternative narrative in the future. A solution oriented narrative, which can only be followed if a harmonious environment is created.  

I believe that we should formally freeze the Kashmir-issue for the next 20 years in order to de-freeze it.

During these twenty years, India and Pakistan should solve all other outstanding issues which will ensure economic and political interdependency among both the countries, demolish the erected walls of hatred and eventually assuage the complexities of this conflict.  

While freezing the Kashmir-issue, both countries should demonstrate the utmost flexibility by giving something back to us Kashmiris. This will pave the way of satisfying our genuine demands, create a tangible sense of hope and at the same time address our intangible, yet undeniable yearning of regaining our lost dignity.

Total withdrawal of armed forces in both parts of Jammu & Kashmir, revocation of laws like PPO, AFSPA and PSA, immediate halt to terrorism and religious extremism sponsored by rogue elements in the Pakistani military establishment and extremist religious parties, release of all political prisoners in Indian- and Pakistani Administered Kashmir, establishment of judicial enquiry commissions on disappearances and political killings like the one of Arif Shahid in 2013, rejection of violence and displays thereof by all stakeholders without any selectiveness, rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits according to their wishes, dispensation of justice and opening up of the borders in order to facilitate people-to-people interaction, are immediate steps which could provide some relief to the Kashmiri people and at the same time address the growing trust deficit.

The de facto border, LOC, should be made irrelevant and free movement of goods, persons, services and capital should be guaranteed. Pakistan should ensure that no further attempts will be made to disassemble Gilgit Baltistan from Jammu & Kashmir.  

A sustainable economy consisting of models for industrial, agricultural and touristic developments should be encouraged and invested upon by both countries.

Full autonomy should be given to the Kashmiri people on both sides by constituting regional assemblies in all the five regions and only the portfolios of Defence, Foreign affairs and Currency should be managed by India and Pakistan respectively in their current administered parts of J&K.

Simultaneously, an institutionalized Intra-Kashmir dialogue should be facilitated in all the 5 regions of Jammu & Kashmir, in order to enable us Kashmiris to create a genuine consensus regarding our future.

I firmly believe that an everlasting solution to the Kashmir-issue will naturally follow this freezing period. When both countries will have solved all other outstanding issues and Kashmiris would have liberated themselves from violence, religious extremism and proxy warfare, none of the parties would be willing, NOT to solve this entanglement.

The interrelated stakes, collective appetite for peace, economic progress and the respective introspection among all stakeholders would necessitate a solution based on the principles of give-and-take.

The interdependency will inevitably make giving less painful, while it will diminish the urge of taking.

It has already taken too much from us Kashmiris.

We cannot afford to give anything, anymore.    

Speech of Junaid Qureshi during a Side-event seminar, ‘Human Rights situation in South Asia’, at the 31^st Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on the 10^th of March 2016.