Dawood Ibrahim
SENIOR MEMBER
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- May 25, 2016
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Don’t need another East India Company
China is making the largest investment by any foreign country in the region in the form of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The common man is being told that the CPEC would prove a game changer for the country. It would be highly unfortunate if the investment becomes a source of doubts and suspicions between the two friendly countries This is what is being allowed to happen on account of the PML-N government’s secretiveness regarding the details of the project. The government considers the CPEC a special gift from China for the PML-N government which the latter can implement the way it likes forgetting that all liabilities accruing from the project will have to be borne by successive governments and the public at large. Questions asked by smaller federal units have been dismissed with disdain or with vague and unsatisfactory answers giving birth to a suspicion that the project was in the main meant to benefit Punjab. Criticism regarding delays in the project and suggestions to involve Parliament or army in overseeing its implementation have been rejected out of hand Chinese concerns over delay in deployment of a Special Security Division (SSD) continue to be ignored by the bureaucracy connected with the project.
The government is unwilling to give straight answers to concrete questions. It has kept mum about the issue of repayment obligations raised in the IMF’s final review of its program. Ahsan Iqbal failed to turn up at the meeting of a Senate Standing Committee where vital questions about certain aspects of the CPEC were expected to be raised. The unsatisfied chairman of the committee expressed worries over the prospect of the CPEC becoming another East India Company.
Unless the government acts with complete transparency and provides satisfactory answers to the queries some of which are being raised over last two years, the CPEC can turn into a controversy in 2018 elections. Unless CPEC is implemented through a more efficient machinery than is currently being employed it would cause delays, raise expenses and lead to further misunderstandings.
Editorial
The Editorial Department of Pakistan Today can be contacted at:editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk.
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2016/10/18/comment/dont-make-cpec-controversial/
China is making the largest investment by any foreign country in the region in the form of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The common man is being told that the CPEC would prove a game changer for the country. It would be highly unfortunate if the investment becomes a source of doubts and suspicions between the two friendly countries This is what is being allowed to happen on account of the PML-N government’s secretiveness regarding the details of the project. The government considers the CPEC a special gift from China for the PML-N government which the latter can implement the way it likes forgetting that all liabilities accruing from the project will have to be borne by successive governments and the public at large. Questions asked by smaller federal units have been dismissed with disdain or with vague and unsatisfactory answers giving birth to a suspicion that the project was in the main meant to benefit Punjab. Criticism regarding delays in the project and suggestions to involve Parliament or army in overseeing its implementation have been rejected out of hand Chinese concerns over delay in deployment of a Special Security Division (SSD) continue to be ignored by the bureaucracy connected with the project.
The government is unwilling to give straight answers to concrete questions. It has kept mum about the issue of repayment obligations raised in the IMF’s final review of its program. Ahsan Iqbal failed to turn up at the meeting of a Senate Standing Committee where vital questions about certain aspects of the CPEC were expected to be raised. The unsatisfied chairman of the committee expressed worries over the prospect of the CPEC becoming another East India Company.
Unless the government acts with complete transparency and provides satisfactory answers to the queries some of which are being raised over last two years, the CPEC can turn into a controversy in 2018 elections. Unless CPEC is implemented through a more efficient machinery than is currently being employed it would cause delays, raise expenses and lead to further misunderstandings.
Editorial
The Editorial Department of Pakistan Today can be contacted at:editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk.
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2016/10/18/comment/dont-make-cpec-controversial/
