Pakistan politicians fear losing strategic islands to China

[HalfMoon]

Pakistan politicians fear losing strategic islands to China

Local parties claim federal land snatch to feed Belt and Road ambitions

asia.nikkei.com

Pakistan politicians fear losing strategic islands to China
Local parties claim federal land snatch to feed Belt and Road ambitions

Prime Minister Imran Khan's government is being criticized by opposition parties for taking direct control of two islands that could be of strategic value to China in the Arabian Sea. © Nikkei montage/Source photo by Reuters
ADNAN AAMIR, Contributing writerOctober 13, 2020 18:21 JST
QUETTA, Pakistan -- Pakistan's federal government has triggered a political uproar after taking direct control of two islands previously under the regional government of Sindh province.
President Arif Alvi signed the Pakistan Islands Development Authority (PIDA) ordinance last month to facilitate reclamation and urban planning on Bundal and Bhuddo islands, which are located south of Karachi. Both islands are some eight kilometers across, and the largest along Sindh's coast.
Government officials say PIDA has been created to develop the islands as commercial zones. Imran Ismail, Sindh's governor, has claimed that Bundal on its own can take on Dubai and attract investment of $50 billion -- equal to the amount already tagged for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a key component in President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The ordinance gained public attention in early October after drawing political flak in Sindh and Balochistan provinces.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairman of Sindh's ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, called the ordinance an illegal annexation. Alluding to India scrapping the semi-autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir last year, he tweeted: "I ask how is this act any different to Modi's actions in occupied Kashmir? The move will be opposed in National, Provincial Assembly & the Senate."

There was a stronger reaction from Sindhi ethnic nationalist politicians who oppose PIDA because they believe the islands could be handed to China as another CPEC component.
"We will not allow you to sell our lands to China Communist Party," tweeted Zafar Sahito, vice president of the Jeay Sindh Thinkers Forum, which advocates Sindh independence.
There is limited tolerance in Islamabad for such views. In May, the government banned Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz-Arisar -- a party with a similar ideology to the Jeay Sindh Thinkers Forum. It was widely assumed that the party's hostility to CPEC was one of the reasons for the ban.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), the largest union of fishermen in Pakistan, has launched the Save Sea Islands Movement, and is organizing a flotilla off Bundal on Oct. 15 to protest the ordinance. PFF also protested the arrival of Chinese deep-sea fishing vessels last month, and claims that 800,000 fishing jobs could be in jeopardy if the federal government persists with its island development plans.
Senator Kabir Muhammad Shahi, a vocal member of the opposition National Party based in the southern province of Balochistan, said the federal government is trespassing on local political turf in Sindh and Balochistan. The National Party "will start demonstrations all over the country against this ordinance," he told Nikkei Asia.
The ordinance is helpful to Beijing's expanding economic ambitions in Pakistan. Last month, it nominated Nong Rang as its ambassador to Islamabad. Unusually, he is a political appointee well versed in commerce and trade, and analysts believe this portends increased commercial and BRI activities.
Mohan Malik, a visiting fellow at Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, said the sudden way in which the two islands near Karachi have been placed under federal control shows that something is afoot. He told Nikkei that the ordinance's stated goals of developing the islands for trade, investment and international tourism "seem to have been taken straight out of Beijing's BRI playbook."

Growing strategic presence -- sailors aboard a Chinese naval vessel salute during the closing ceremony of AMAN-17, the Pakistan navy’s multinational exercise in the northern part of the Arabian Sea in early 2017. © Reuters
Malik, who is also a professor of strategic studies at the National Defense College, UAE, said that if speculation about the eventual handover of the islands to Beijing proves correct, it would increase regional concerns about China's growing strategic presence at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz and in the Arabian Sea.
Senator Muhammad Shahi believes the ordinance is part of a bigger scheme to bring the coasts of Sindh and Balochistan under federal control. "Gwadar port and other key components of CPEC are in the coastal belt, and by putting them under federal control, provincial governments will be completely thrown out of CPEC," he told Nikkei Asia.
Some experts meanwhile contend that the islands are not in fact viable for development. Jahangir Durrani, a senior nature conservationist, told local media that disappearing mangroves and growing pollution have caused severe environmental damage that limits development potential.
Malik is also dubious about development possibilities given the deceleration of other CPEC infrastructure projects in Sindh and Balochistan. Plans for the islands, he said, "sound too ambitious at a time of pandemic-induced economic slowdown and resource-crunches."

 

[Norwegian]

Senator Muhammad Shahi believes the ordinance is part of a bigger scheme to bring the coasts of Sindh and Balochistan under federal control. "Gwadar port and other key components of CPEC are in the coastal belt, and by putting them under federal control, provincial governments will be completely thrown out of CPEC," he told Nikkei Asia.

He sounds like as if federal government is Indian

"We will not allow you to sell our lands to China Communist Party," tweeted Zafar Sahito, vice president of the Jeay Sindh Thinkers Forum, which advocates Sindh independence.

He advocates Sindh independence on behest of India

 

[HalfMoon]

He sounds like as if federal government is Indian

Federal government is not Indian but he is behaving as an Indian.

What is the issue if the Islands are part of CPEC?

 

[Norwegian]

What is the issue if the Islands are part of CPEC?

India, Saudi Arabia and US agents in Pakistan. That's the whole issue.

 

[WaLeEdK2]

They only started paying attention to these islands once the federal government wanted to develop it lol.

 

[Microsoft]

Pakistan politicians fear losing strategic islands to China

Local parties claim federal land snatch to feed Belt and Road ambitions

asia.nikkei.com

Pakistan politicians fear losing strategic islands to China
Local parties claim federal land snatch to feed Belt and Road ambitions

Prime Minister Imran Khan's government is being criticized by opposition parties for taking direct control of two islands that could be of strategic value to China in the Arabian Sea. © Nikkei montage/Source photo by Reuters
ADNAN AAMIR, Contributing writerOctober 13, 2020 18:21 JST
QUETTA, Pakistan -- Pakistan's federal government has triggered a political uproar after taking direct control of two islands previously under the regional government of Sindh province.
President Arif Alvi signed the Pakistan Islands Development Authority (PIDA) ordinance last month to facilitate reclamation and urban planning on Bundal and Bhuddo islands, which are located south of Karachi. Both islands are some eight kilometers across, and the largest along Sindh's coast.
Government officials say PIDA has been created to develop the islands as commercial zones. Imran Ismail, Sindh's governor, has claimed that Bundal on its own can take on Dubai and attract investment of $50 billion -- equal to the amount already tagged for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a key component in President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The ordinance gained public attention in early October after drawing political flak in Sindh and Balochistan provinces.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairman of Sindh's ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, called the ordinance an illegal annexation. Alluding to India scrapping the semi-autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir last year, he tweeted: "I ask how is this act any different to Modi's actions in occupied Kashmir? The move will be opposed in National, Provincial Assembly & the Senate."

There was a stronger reaction from Sindhi ethnic nationalist politicians who oppose PIDA because they believe the islands could be handed to China as another CPEC component.
"We will not allow you to sell our lands to China Communist Party," tweeted Zafar Sahito, vice president of the Jeay Sindh Thinkers Forum, which advocates Sindh independence.
There is limited tolerance in Islamabad for such views. In May, the government banned Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz-Arisar -- a party with a similar ideology to the Jeay Sindh Thinkers Forum. It was widely assumed that the party's hostility to CPEC was one of the reasons for the ban.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), the largest union of fishermen in Pakistan, has launched the Save Sea Islands Movement, and is organizing a flotilla off Bundal on Oct. 15 to protest the ordinance. PFF also protested the arrival of Chinese deep-sea fishing vessels last month, and claims that 800,000 fishing jobs could be in jeopardy if the federal government persists with its island development plans.
Senator Kabir Muhammad Shahi, a vocal member of the opposition National Party based in the southern province of Balochistan, said the federal government is trespassing on local political turf in Sindh and Balochistan. The National Party "will start demonstrations all over the country against this ordinance," he told Nikkei Asia.
The ordinance is helpful to Beijing's expanding economic ambitions in Pakistan. Last month, it nominated Nong Rang as its ambassador to Islamabad. Unusually, he is a political appointee well versed in commerce and trade, and analysts believe this portends increased commercial and BRI activities.
Mohan Malik, a visiting fellow at Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, said the sudden way in which the two islands near Karachi have been placed under federal control shows that something is afoot. He told Nikkei that the ordinance's stated goals of developing the islands for trade, investment and international tourism "seem to have been taken straight out of Beijing's BRI playbook."

Growing strategic presence -- sailors aboard a Chinese naval vessel salute during the closing ceremony of AMAN-17, the Pakistan navy’s multinational exercise in the northern part of the Arabian Sea in early 2017. © Reuters
Malik, who is also a professor of strategic studies at the National Defense College, UAE, said that if speculation about the eventual handover of the islands to Beijing proves correct, it would increase regional concerns about China's growing strategic presence at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz and in the Arabian Sea.
Senator Muhammad Shahi believes the ordinance is part of a bigger scheme to bring the coasts of Sindh and Balochistan under federal control. "Gwadar port and other key components of CPEC are in the coastal belt, and by putting them under federal control, provincial governments will be completely thrown out of CPEC," he told Nikkei Asia.
Some experts meanwhile contend that the islands are not in fact viable for development. Jahangir Durrani, a senior nature conservationist, told local media that disappearing mangroves and growing pollution have caused severe environmental damage that limits development potential.
Malik is also dubious about development possibilities given the deceleration of other CPEC infrastructure projects in Sindh and Balochistan. Plans for the islands, he said, "sound too ambitious at a time of pandemic-induced economic slowdown and resource-crunches."

Yikes after the news of GB becoming a province these anti-CPEC people have begun grasping at straws.

 

[Norwegian]

They only started paying attention to these islands once the federal government wanted to develop it lol.

Because Federal government refused to give them commissions

Yikes after the news of GB becoming a province these anti-CPEC people have begun grasping at straws.

This is Japanese paper. What has Japan anything against Cpec?

 

[HalfMoon]

This is Japanese paper. What has Japan anything against Cpec?

It is a Japanese paper but the author is not Japanese.

ADNAN AAMIR, Contributing writer

 

[Pandora]

Islands were being used to dump dead and rabid dogs. For decades Sindh had possession of these Islands yet they used them as dumping ground for dead animals.

 

[Samlee]

The SIndh Government Can Go **** Itself But Concerns Of Fisherfolks Must Be Addressed

 

[achhu]

Federal government is not Indian but he is behaving as an Indian.

What is the issue if the Islands are part of CPEC?

it is very good Idea to give lands to china , they will invest dollars , operate it for china on lease of 99 years .

 

[Falcon26]

It is a Japanese paper but the author is not Japanese.

ADNAN AAMIR, Contributing writer

The editor of this publication is also a Pakistani. His name is Wajahat S Khan.

Nikkei is a well respected publication, it’s basically the Wall Street Journal of Japan.

 

[Bilal.]

Federal government is not Indian but he is behaving as an Indian.

What is the issue if the Islands are part of CPEC?

The island development is not part of CPEC. It’s part time f construction incentives the government is working on and expects private sector investments. It’s just a propaganda piece by Nikkei, you can find a dozen of those as part of Psy Ops against CPEC. Just google CPEC Nikkei and see for yourself all the negative propaganda from them:

cpec nikkei site:asia.nikkei.com - Google Search

 

[khansaheeb]

The Islands have already been lost due to poor oversight and lack of management. So if China, Pakistan gov or PN /PAF can do something with it that would be great :-

 

[WebMaster]

The Islands have already been lost due to poor oversight and lack of management. So if China, Pakistan gov or PN /PAF can do something with it that would be great :-

View attachment 684849

Karachi's beaches are suffering from the same, we should also have an organization that will protect our seas from this. Pakistan is losing billions in failing to protect these assets.

Imagine using these new Islands on par to Maldives, etc. Huge business potential. Thanks to the government.