@RiazHaq
Brofessor sb,
Thanks for your reply. But my Q was about Pakistan as a whole and not just the Thar. Pushing Pak into a debt trap hardly seems a worthwhile transformation.
Regards
I do understand your feelings towards CPEC project. Being an Indian, you are entitled of dreaming of undoing the partition of 1947 and achieving the goal of Akhund Bharat. Your resentment towards anything that is beneficial to Pakistan is justified. However, a lot of water has flown under the bridges. Undoing the partition is not possible at all. Earlier the Indians get that realization, better it is for them and the people of this region.
Coming back to the CPEC project, I believe, this project has now brought Pakistan at an extremely crucial junction in this country's history. The rail link between China and Gwadar is something that, if successfully completed and operationalized, will turn Pakistan into a global trade link. As US Fox News channel has rightly pointed out that the completion of this project will have serious implications for global trade. To understand that we need to realize a bit of the background.
China currently has probably the biggest volume of international trade in the whole world. It imports huge volumes of energy supplies and other raw materials from the world and exports goods worth trillions of dollar every year. All that trade is currently channeled through only the strait of Malacca. There are a number of reasons why that is not desirable. For one, that channel is probably fast reaching to its capacity. Second, it's longer and hence economically less feasible. But the most importantly, it's will be a disaster for global trade and economy, including that of Europe and America, if the trade through strait of Malacca is disrupted due to any reason such as accidents, war hostilities, tsunami, etc. An alternative is thus desperately desired. Gwadar offers the shortest, safest, and economically the most feasible alternative. Once it becomes operational, a prosperous and nuclear-powered Pakistan will protect this route to the benefit of the global trade and economy. And that's what brings the severe pain in the neck for Indians the most.
Regarding the much-trumpeted debt trap, Chinese are to be blames probably the least. If Sri Lanka (Bangladesh, or Pakistan) government is unwilling or unable of turning Chinese investment into really successful national projects, then these governments need to be blamed for their inability, nepotism, corruption, and short-sightedness. But in Pakistan's case, Chinese investment and assistance, both the civilian CPEC and military domains, has proved to be very helpful. For example, Pakistan is no more prone to the traditional Western blackmail while selling their military equipment to us thanks to the very effective assistance from our Chinese iron brothers.
On the civilian side, Pakistan successfully got rid of sever power shortages a few years ago only with Chinese investment in our power projects (and that too when no other country was willing to invent a penny in such projects). By now, we were supposed to have completed most of the construction of ML1 (a new parallel high-speed railway track spanning north-south Pakistan), established at least seven special economic/industrial zones (for manufacturing and exporting products), and operationalizing trade road for import/export of Chinese goods through Gwadar. If the IK government miserably failed in achieving all these pre-set goals and rather managed to make our Chinese friends disgruntled, it's no fault of CPEC projects.
After getting imposed by that duo of Bajwa and Faiz, this brainless idiot IK made it a mantra to trumpet of imaginary overwhelming corruption of previous governments (without any proof or evidence) during his state visits to other countries. The question is what the heck he was trying achieve? Implicating the host governments too for their cooperation with previous Pak government? He and his brainless minsters did the same thing during their state visit to China and got rebuffed by their hosts. His foolish claims of mega corruption by SS in CPEC projects disgruntled our Chinese friends and that was perhaps the real purpose of installing this mentally-sick dude with largely dysfunctional brain onto Pakistani people. When later it turned out that this filthy criminal, his family, and his gang of crooks were ripping this nation off like there was no second day, all our friendly governments started giving cold-shoulder and keeping a distance from IK and his government. Pakistan indeed got diplomatically isolated towards the end of IK's incompetent and corrupt government.
However, that duo of Bajwa and Faiz kept building their evil network of mafia by installing their own men in every key position (admin - civil and khaki - judiciary, media, etc.) with plans to run the show until at least 2035. You can imagine that judge mafia even started calculating when and who will be the CJ of Pakistan and positioning/appointing their own persons at the right numbers/places. Such long planning and calculations were used by disgraced scumbags like Saqib Nisar and Bandial to position their close relatives to ultimately sit in the CJ's chair. All that shows why junior judges were being promoted out of turn. The planned filth was overwhelming and meant for someones getting extension in their tenure being chief, some to become chief, and others positioned right to become chief in future. Allah SwT saved us from this filthy mafia just at the brink. Alhamdulillah.
I hope the efforts by the current leadership (both civilian and military) would bear the fruit and bring the CPEC projects on the track once again. Let's hope the special processing/industrial zones become a reality, some of Chinese industry is relocated into those zones, ML1 project gets out of freeze, and the halted work on all Chinese projects in Pakistan gets re-started once again into full swing.
The government Of Pakistan should also try convincing the international community that CPEC is not a military project at all leave alone being against any one country in world. Far from that, it is purely an infrastructure project meant for facilitating and promoting global trade. Having an alternate route of strait of Malacca is in the best interest of global community. It must not be seen under the prism of US-China rivalry. Rather everyone, including the West, should try to augment it and take a leverage of it for bringing the prosperity to the mankind. Indians, in the meantime, can keep burning in their own fire of hate and jealousy towards Pakistani people and departing for their chittah with all their desires of Akhund Bharat buried into their chest.