Dr Mehmood Ul Hassan Khan
CHINA-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a blessing for both the countries but regional countries especially, India is all out to topple its ongoing march towards socio-economic prosperity, massive industrialization, job generation and last but not the least poverty eradication. India has been rigorously trying to create various stumbling blocks in the development and execution of this mega project which is the custodian of the nation’s economy, stability, sustainability and prosperity.
Jugglers of regional anti-Sino-Pak forces out of their frustration are now directly targeting the CPEC and termed it a total failure and magnetic force of debts which is totally baseless, speculative and unreal. In this context, various published reports of the World Bank (WB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have strongly rejected self-defined and self-inserted definitions of India, USA and the West about so-called debts.
All the regional countries, especially India, should understand that the CPEC is meant for economic stability and sustainability and not for wagging any political war so please come out of your state of denial and fear. The CPEC is primarily designed, developed and executed for achieving greater regional connectivity. In this connection, CPEC should not be prey of regional politics because it is meant for development not destruction. It stands for regional harmony not horrendous schemes. It also stands for service of humanity not anti-human deeds.
CPEC is the icon of socio-economic prosperity, massive industrialization, agricultural revolution, health & housing development and above all energy generation which may bring radical changes in the life of common people. So please stop disseminating propaganda against the CPEC for which India would be ultimate losers because there is no match between prosperity, progress and productive channels and Indian propaganda media campaigns and secretive activities in the country.
The CPEC is a blessing for achieving goals of a smarter economy and society in the country which should not be besieged of dirty blame game and foggy regional hegemonic power politics. On the other hand, it guarantees national economic sovereignty and regional country, especially India, should not try to sabotage caravans of socio-economic prosperity. As Aristotle said, politics is the biggest “leveller” but in case of greater regional connectivity, energy and food security, Pakistan, sustainable socio-economic prosperity should not be a specific target of Indian ill designs.
Moreover, Indian hawks should not forget that human civilization depends heavily on economic prosperity and self-reliance. On its part, the Chinese government, its various organizations, banks, private sector and multinational companies gear-up the CPEC into its phase-II in the country in which preference will be given to social development, health, housing, agriculture, formation of economic free zones and above all job generation.
The CPEC is a blessing but due to achieving certain anti-China-Pak ill designs, India has been creating serious doubts about the CPEC which should be negated at every level in the country. A retired major of the Indian Army, named Gaurav Arya, is notorious for misinformation campaigns on social media. He has also indulged in propaganda against the CPEC.
He recently claimed that the entire venture of the CPEC is a failure. He also claimed that the Chinese are seeking a way out of this agreement. Arya often makes these claims without any evidence to back them. All his big claims are “baseless”, “speculative” and “untrue”. He is a “conspiratorial” person. In this context, the government of Pakistan has categorically rejected India’s malicious propaganda against China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, terming it another manifestation of desperate Indian attempts to mislead the world community because “lies have legs but cannot walk”.
Moreover, the CPEC Authority is the “bridge” among many governmental organizations and organs. It is meant for streamlining CPEC’s functionality, its further development and implementation mechanism. Moreover, it is devised for institutionalizing spirits of transparency, impartiality, checks and balances and last but not the least, promotion of public-private partnership (basis of modern day corporate governance & survival) in the projects of the CPEC.
It is also not a military barrage as propagated in regional as well as international media outlets; rather it is a connecting bridge of different but innovative ideas, personalities, programs, policies and presentations. CPEC Authority has now become a “value-addition” for the further development and implementation of its phase-II in the country. In his recent interview, Chairman of the CPEC Authority Lt. Gen.(R) Asim Saleem Bajwa, highlighted expansion of the CPEC and urged uniformity among all provinces and the federal government for the further development and implementation of the CPEC. He suggested a mechanism of “One Window” facility for streamlining the different projects of the CPEC. He shared that CPEC Authority promoted and succeeded to establish a “fast-track” mechanism in which every Chinese company, every official of the embassy are more than welcome and their proposals are processed and implemented in an expeditious manner.
Being a regional expert of CPEC & BRI, I predict that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will remain “relevant” and “valid” for the future socio-economic development of Pakistan. It will provide important “variables” of “prompt industrialization”, “higher agricultural yields”, much needed “health capacity building”, booming of tourism and last but not the least, formation of a network of economic free zones (EFzs) in the country. To conclude, I share that CPEC should not be easy prey of regional blame game and dirty power politics because it is meant for people’s prosperity and job generation of youth in which regional hegemonic agenda should not have any place and space in the country.