Kulbushan Warikoo

Through CPEC, China has increased its communication footprint in Pakistan. Direct cross-border optic fibre cable has been laid from Tashkurghan in Xinjiang (across Khunjerab Pass) till Rawalpindi to deepen comprehensive strategic cooperation by establishing fast, reliable connectivity that is not routed through Europe or the US. It is poised to increase connectivity in remote but strategically important areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan. It is also planned to provide the Central Asian republics a new, shorter and cost-effective route for connectivity. China’s Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcast (DTMB) technology is being brought into Pakistan to cover 90 per cent of its population. The communication plans include installation of surveillance cameras, explosives’ detectors and scanners covering major roads, sensitive areas and crowded places. Tashkurghan (in Xinjiang) has been developed as a hub with a new airport. China has officially donated security vehicles with its banner (China Aid) to Pakistan for use in Gilgit-Baltistan. China has introduced yak-mounted cavalry to guard the Sino-Pak border. There are plans to build a railway running parallel to KKH from Havelian to Khunjerab, from where it will be linked to China’s railway system at Kashgar. Gilgit-Baltistan functions mainly as a corridor between industrial centres and consumer markets in Xinjiang and Punjab (Pakistan). Plans are afoot to shift the Sust dry port in Gilgit to Havelian, which is being built on war footing. To conclude, CPEC is a strategic gain for China, as it will give the country access to oil-rich West Asia through Gwadar. Currently, 80 per cent of China’s imported oil is transported over a distance of about 16,000 km through the Strait of Malacca to Shanghai, over three months. Once Gwadar Port becomes operational, it will reduce the distance to only about 2,500 km providing China the shortest route and access to the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. Heavy involvement of China in CPEC and Gilgit-Baltistan, Balochistan and Gwadar is a new security dimension to the situation in the region. Policymakers in Pakistan emphasize the importance of Gwadar and CPEC not only for Pakistan and China, but also for Central Asia, as it would provide the landlocked Central Asian republics an easy and short overland route to the sea. Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf had highlighted ‘Pakistan’s potential to become the commercial hub for Central and South-West Asia and renew the ancient Silk Route’. CPEC is viewed by Pakistan as yielding strategic dividends, as a counter to India and any inimical force in the neighbourhood. As Senge Sering (a Balti scholar) puts it, ‘The Karakoram Corridor binds Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and China into a regional security bloc, which will be an anti-dote to counter Indian and Western influences in the region.’ One must also take into account the emerging equations of Pakistan with Turkey, Azerbaijan and even Russia.