Indus Priest King
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- Jan 22, 2018
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If that's the case, then shouldn't you be happy? If CPEC is such a disaster in the making, why is the Indian government and media so obsessed with trying to smear it all the time? Shouldn't you be promoting CPEC then technically, it it'll destroy us? Since when are Indians so concerned about the well being of Pakistanis? Stop deluding yourself...India is panicking big time over CPEC, and some have argued that they've actually overreacted.
The reality is your Chahbahar port has all but failed miserably. It amazes me how most Indians still haven't figured out that the Iranians fleeced you folks out of a free port. Iran is more than capable enough of building its own ports...but when India panicked after Gwadar, they approached Iran to counter it and Iran happily obliged. They get a free port, while knowing full well no road and rail links will ever be built beyond the Afghan border.
Then, Iran has always had an unenthusiastic support for the project. Although the idea was first mooted in 2003, it was only in 2012 on the sidelines of the 16th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Tehran that Iran (then reeling under sanctions for its nuclear activities) conceded to set up a joint working group to operationalize the port project as part of the trilateral cooperation agreement between Afghanistan, India and Iran on investment cooperation, trade and transit. A key factor behind Iran’s reluctance to allow an Indian presence at Chabahar was the opposition by the Revolutionary Guards, which reportedly uses the port to ship arms to Yemen.
Second, its strategic significance notwithstanding, the economic viability of the project is suspect. India, which has had trouble raising funds for the project, has so far been able to invest only $85 million to build a couple of berths. While India recently indicated that it was willing to invest up to $20 billion—one of its largest overseas ventures—to develop the port, petrochemical and fertilizer plants in the Chabahar SEZ, it remains to be seen if it can raise the funds.
Thirdly, and most importantly, Gwadar next door has gotten the Iranians interested. In fact, Tehran, which has been playing hardball with India and demanding greater Indian investment in Chabahar, itself plans to invest $4 billion to build a refinery in Gwadar to process 400,000 barrels of oil per day, not to mention newer proposed cooperation that was pinned earlier this year and last year.
And India is a signatory to the US-India Nuclear Agreement. You're essentially going to have to follow US American Foreign Policy or you can kiss the deal good bye.
XXOO
Yours Truly
IPK
