Hafizzz
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More than troops, Chinese projects in Pakistani Kashmir worry India
More than troops, Chinese projects in Azad Kashmir worry India
While India has independently confirmed that the presence of Chinese troops in Gilgit and Baltistan is a bit exaggerated in terms of numbers, the real concern here is on the number of projects and works China has undertaken in those areas and in ***************** Kashmir (Pakistani Kashmir). And the footprint is only growing larger.
At last count, South Block had noticed at least 17 confirmed projects in Pakistani Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
These constitute more than half the Chinese projects in areas under Pakistans control, making it a cause of major concern because of the disputed status of the areas. At present, according to government inputs, 122 Chinese companies are active in Pakistan, and most of them are also involved in projects in Pakistani Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan areas.
China, sources said, has suddenly increased its involvement in almost every key sector, and has virtually taken upon itself the responsibility of building basic infrastructure in these areas. The list of projects range from providing mobile connectivity services to building power projects, highways and rail links.
Karakoram Highway upgradation: The China Road and Bridge Corporation has taken up this project and will give preferential credit of $327 million through its Exim Bank in what is a $491-million project. Two other MoUs on double-laning of the Karakoram Highway as well as widening of the Jaglot-Skardu road have also been signed.
Pakistan-China rail link: This is a 750 km-long rail link between Havelian and the Khunjerab Pass along the Karakoram Highway. While feasibility studies are on for this project, Pakistan and China have agreed to establish a joint venture between Pakistan Railways and Dongfang Electric Corporation to initially run only freight trains on this route.
Jhelum Bridge: Pakistan has awarded a Rs 1.2 billion contract to a Chinese state company for constructing a major bridge on River Jhelum at Dhangali in Mirpur District.
Five bailey bridges on Gilgit-Skardu Road: Xinjiang Road and Bridge Construction Company of China is replacing five existing bailey bridges on the 167-km long, strategically important Gilgit-Skardu road.
Mining: A Chinese company called MCC Resources Development Company Ltd has been allowed to start a mineral exploration exercise in these areas. The Gilgit-Baltistan government has given a reconnaissance licence to the company. Pakistan Surpass Mining Company, which is subsidiary of Chinas Xinjiang Surpass Mining Company Ltd, has submitted a $6 million investment proposal for mining in those areas. It plans to set up a hydropower station and Molybdenum processing plant in Chupurshan Valley.
Sust Dry Port: A joint venture named Pak-China Sust Port Company is managing the Sust dry port, 200 km from Gilgit on the Karakoram Highway. Opened four years ago, the Chinese side is the principal stakeholder in the JV.
Mobile communication links: China Mobile is providing mobile services in Pakistani Kashmir and certain areas of Gilgit-Baltistan. The company has major plans to set up more towers and expand coverage.
Diamer-Bhasha Dam: China is said to have agreed to finance this $11.3-billion 4500-MW project. Also, it has agreed to provide the services of the China Three Gorges Project Corporation for the construction of the dam. Sinihydro has show interest in the development of the project.
Magla dam raising project: A joint venture comprising China International Water and Electric Corporation and some Pakistan companies have almost completed this project. Once operational, the average annual water availability for irrigation will increase by near 3 million acre feet.
Neelum-Jhelum hydro-power project: China Gezhouba Water and Power Corporation, which was part of the Three Gorges project, has formed a consortium and taken up this 969 MW project too in Muzaffarabad district. Keen on completing this project before the Kishengaga project on the Indian side, Pakistan has obtained a commitment from the consortium that the work will be finished in eight years. Meanwhile, it has raised objections and gone for arbitration with India on the Kishenganga project under Indus Waters Treaty provisions.
Besides these, China has taken up at least four other hydropower projects in these areasBhunji project in Gilgit-Baltistan, Kohala project (1100 MW), Naltar project and then smaller projects in places like Phendar, Harpo and Yurlbo.
Already, China has provided a soft loan of $300 million to Pakistan for reconstruction and rehabilitation works in the areas as follow-up on relief for the earthquake. Following the recent floods, it has taken up the task to get the Karakoram Highway back on track. Many of its military personnel are there for relief work and it has so far given aid of $9 million which is likely to increase.
Indians claim Pakistan's land their own land
The Pioneer :: Home : >> It?s India?s land that China occupies
While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh waxes eloquent on the need to bridge the trust deficit in relations between India and Pakistan, infusing fresh enthusiasm among mombattiwallahs on both sides of the border, the Government he heads faces a severe crisis of trust deficit of a different kind. The confused response of the Government over the presence of Chinese troops in ***************** Kashmir what Beijing describes as northern Pakistan demonstrates this point. It appears that the Ministry of External Affairs is now virtually out of the loop on crucial matters, starved of vital intelligence input necessary for a coherent response to issues that have a direct bearing on foreign affairs and policy. It is impossible that R&AW, which is well-clued into whats happening in ***************** Kashmir despite depleted assets, should not have been aware of PLA soldiers being flown into what were earlier known as Northern Areas and since 2009 are referred to by Pakistan as Gilgit-Baltistan after the recent floods caused massive destruction of strategic infrastructure, including the Karakoram Highway.
Yet, the Ministry of External Affairs commented on it only after Selig S Harrison, director of the Asia Programme at the Center for International Policy and a former South Asia bureau chief of The Washington Post, wrote about the quiet geopolitical crisis ... unfolding in the Himalayan borderlands of northern Pakistan, where Islamabad is handing over de facto control of the strategic Gilgit-Baltistan region in the north-west corner of disputed Kashmir to China in The New York Times. Even after the article was published, presumably placing in the public domain information that had already been secured and processed by R&AW, all that the Ministry of External Affairs could (or would) say is, We are seeking an independent verification... If true, it would be a matter of serious concern and we would do all that is necessary to ensure the safety and security of the nation.
That would have been reassuring had the Ministry, which is part of the national security structure, not been so woefully ill-informed. For, by then there was confirmation of the presence of PLA troops by Pakistani officials who said the Chinese were in Gilgit-Baltistan for relief work. Last week, China, while denying the presence of 11,000 of its soldiers in Gilgit-Baltistan, has confirmed that it is helping Pakistan with men and material to cope with the disaster. Indias feisty Ambassador to China, Mr S Jaishankar he should have been sent to Beijing long ago has subsequently conveyed our concerns, but whether these have been taken seriously is anybodys guess.
Two inter-linked facts are now abundantly clear and indisputable. First, China has crafted a Jammu & Kashmir policy that is apparently heavily loaded in favour of its all-weather friend Pakistan and is inimical to Indias interests. In reality, it is designed to serve Chinas strategic interests more than anything else. The main elements of this policy are: Delegitimise Indias sovereign right over Jammu & Kashmir by treating the State as disputed territory (hence the stapled visas for Indians living in that State); legitimise Pakistans claim to all of Jammu & Kashmir and thus treat ***************** Kashmir (including Gilgit-Baltistan) as Pakistani territory or northern Pakistan (visas are stamped on Pakistani passports used by residents of ***************** Kashmir); and, thereby seek to convert Pakistans patently illegal act of ceding 5,180 sq km of occupied Indian territory, known as Trans-Karakoram Tract (virtually all of Gilgit-Baltistan) to China in 1963 into a legal transaction.
A resurgent China, having raced ahead of Japan and secured for itself the status of the worlds second largest economy and tamed the US into playing second fiddle (recall President Barack Hussein Obama paying obeisance in the Chinese court), now feels confident of pushing its strategic frontiers beyond geographical boundaries. This is where the second factor of Chinas deftly-crafted Jammu & Kashmir policy comes in: It wants to assert its hold over the Northern Areas and make its presence felt to both Pakistan and India, albeit for different reasons. This precedes the planned expansion of Chinas strategic infrastructure through and beyond the Trans-Karakoram Tract by building a rail link between Kashgar in Xinjiang province and Havelian near Rawalpindi. With Gwadar Port providing it access to the Persian Gulf and an amplified land route across the Karakoram range in place, China would have vastly secured its strategic interests, trouncing those of India. Thats called pursuing a robust policy of enlightened self-interest which underpins both national security and strategy in the shifting sands of 21st centurys geo-politics.
Of course, duplicity laces this policy which is often articulated with a forked tongue. As a neighbour and friend of both countries, China believes that the (Kashmir) issue should be left to the two countries so that it could be properly handled through dialogue and consultation, Ms Jiang Yu, the spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told mediapersons in Beijing last week, insisting that China has no intention to interfere in the Kashmir issue which we believe is an issue left over from history between India and Pakistan. Such pious declarations of Chinas non-interference, however, fly in the face of Beijings actions. Asked whether China would review the policy of issuing stapled visas to Indian passport holders of Jammu & Kashmir, Ms Jiang Yu said, Our visa policy towards inhabitants in the Indian-controlled Kashmir region is consistent and stays unchanged.
It would be easy to attribute such deliberately un-nuanced some would say belligerent articulation of how Beijing views New Delhis concerns to a rising Chinas arrogance. But the belligerence of those with whom India does business, literally and metaphorically, is not entirely divorced from Indian realities. We cannot escape from the twin facts that our own Jammu & Kashmir policy is stuck in a grey zone of self-doubt, self-pity, self-flagellation and self-recrimination, and our political class is deeply divided on how to deal with an ever recalcitrant minority (thats what the separatists in Kashmir Valley represent) in a State we insist is inseparable from the Union of India. The all-party resolution that was adopted by Parliament to stop then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao from persisting with his anything short of azadi approach at the behest of a certain Robin Raphel (who now oversees American aid to Pakistan), restating Indias sovereign right over all of Jammu & Kashmir, including ***************** Kashmir of which Gilgit-Baltistan is an integral part, is now a forgotten document. If only successive Governments since then had premised their foreign policy on that resolution and aggressively sought to reclaim Indias territory from Pakistani and de facto Chinese occupation, we would have been spared the humiliation that is being heaped on us today.
India might as well claim all of Asia as her own land.
