THERE cannot be any better lexeme for multibillion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) than the one used by Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad whilst talking to the media persons on Monday, declaring it the economic jugular vein of Pakistan.
It is so as ever since the launch of this corridor project, the country has been able to build state of the art road infrastructure, which is a must to improve connectivity and bolster trade.
Besides, the power generation projects have greatly contributed to address the longstanding issue of electricity load shedding.
In fact had the Chinese not invested in the power sector, Pakistan still would have been languishing in darkness and load shedding of twelve to eighteen hours.
Our Chinese friends are still engaged in some of the most strategically important projects such as Diamer Basha and Dasu dams which are of immense importance not only to generate cheap and clean electricity but also to irrigate large swaths of barren land.
Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are also being opened in the provinces which will take the country towards industrialization.
These SEZs will not only help bolster our exports but also provide immense job opportunities to our youths.
However, recent terrorist attacks in which a number of Chinese workers were killed clearly indicate that our enemies are out to cut this very jugular vein, and if they succeed, the results will be disastrous for the economy.
The Chinese Embassy in a statement recently also voiced its concerns over the security of its workers in Pakistan.
We in these columns have been stressing that the government must come up with a comprehensive security cover ensuring foolproof security for the Chinese workers.
Through better intelligence coordination, it is imperative to pre-empt and foil the terrorist plots. These foreign-backed terrorists must not be allowed any space to sabotage the CPEC project.
Our Chinese friends also fully understand the threats faced by the corridor project and in the past whenever somebody tried to kick dust on it, they came forward to fully defend it.
We are confident that both the countries will continue to work together to foil the evil designs of the enemy.
The best response to its ploys will be to further accelerate the pace of work on all the CPEC-related projects.
