Daily Times

Last month, I was fortunate enough to attend a civil society pre-event to the Global Conference on Cyberspace 2015 in The Hague, which included the who’s who of the world’s leading activists for a free, open and private internet. One of the sessions was a simulation exercise with a mock UN General Assembly (UNGA) hearing, with all of us representing different countries at the table. The issue before the mock General Assembly was regarding two make believe countries, Vintcerfia (named after one of the fathers of the internet, Vint Cerf) and Absurdistan. Absurdistan was accused of having carried out cyber attacks against Vintcerfia’s internet infrastructure causing huge economic losses as well as loss of life. The debate that followed got polarised between the partisans of China and Russia on the one hand and the US and UK on the other. While the US-led group prevailed in getting an aid package passed for Vintcerfia, the China and Russia-led group effectively stalled any progress on investigation into Absurdistan’s actions. Such was the fidelity of the actors to their assigned roles that we managed to replicate the actual voting patterns of the UNGA in the exercise.
Now, more than ever before, we live in a multi-polar world with China and Russia providing the counter balance to the US on the global stage. It is for this reason that Edward Snowden, the great hero for the privacy movement, chose as a safe haven Moscow in Russia, the irony being that Russia itself is a known predator when it comes to surveillance of its citizens. Such is the paradox of international politics; countries with dubious domestic records are at the vanguard of resistance against the hegemony of the world’s only superpower.
China as the pre-eminent Asian power is re-writing the rules — to use President Obama’s phrase — in what is the world’s fastest growing continent, Asia. The Silk Road initiative led by China is the most ambitious economic project of the 21st century. It attempts to connect China to Eurasia and South East Asia through routes on land and in the sea. The central plank of this project is the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) because it links the two projects — a land route in Eurasia and a maritime route in South East Asia. Pakistan’s unique geography, earlier milked by our establishment for its nuisance value, is now coming to our aid economically. The CPEC is therefore the crown jewel in the new Chinese economic paradigm in Asia. It is for the people of Pakistan to sink their differences and realise that this project is good not just for Pakistan but for Asia as a whole, which, for the first time in history, has the opportunity to act independent of US influence. This means two things. First that China is offering its partners a much better deal than the US economically. Secondly, however, the waning US influence means that the occasionally restraining hand of the US in terms of human rights and civil liberties will also be removed. Chinese influence may therefore mean greater impunity on the part of state powers when it comes to crushing dissent and violating human rights. Those brave souls who raise their voices for civil liberties in Pakistan, therefore, are right to be sceptical. Already the “Chinese model” has been touted as the model Pakistan ought to follow when it comes to crushing freedom of expression in the country. While we reap the benefits of Chinese investment, we should not barter away our constitutional freedoms and guarantees under any circumstances.
It must be underscored that, as the local Absurdistan, Pakistan will not be good for anyone, least of all China. A peaceful, prosperous and stable Pakistan is extremely necessary for the CPEC to work. This means normalisation of ties with India and closer relations with Iran and Afghanistan. Afghan-India transit trade as well as greater people-to-people exchange between India and Pakistan on a substantial level will only add to the potential of the CPEC. The Chinese will also look to Pakistan to stabilise its close but tumultuous relationship with the US. The US, on its part, must not look at the CPEC as a zero sum game between its interests and Chinese interests. If it can reconcile with a secondary role in Asia, the US can still manage to safeguard some of its nobler foreign policy initiatives, including its extremely important human rights work. The US will, however, have to accept the basic principle: Asia for Asians.
For Pakistan, which has squandered numerous opportunities in the past, this is yet another golden opportunity to help get itself back on track. To make the most of it, however, Pakistan will need to resolve some of its most pressing issues, none more important that the ongoing conflict in Balochistan, the land that is the pivot of the CPEC. Groups that are attempting to overthrow the state by force should be dealt with severely but the state must also ensure that every citizen of Pakistan, regardless of their ethnic or religious origin, should enjoy the same rights before law. The Baloch must be made effective stakeholders in the CPEC and the Pakistani federation.
If Pakistan plays its cards right, manages to keep centrifugal forces in check and is able to deliver on its part in the CPEC, it is likely to become one of the most prosperous nations in Asia. If we can simultaneously ensure that the fundamental rights under our Constitution are guaranteed to every citizen regardless of his religion or ethnicity, there is nothing to stop us from becoming a truly great people. That would be a win-win situation for everyone.

The writer is a lawyer based in Lahore and the author of the book Mr Jinnah: Myth and Reality. He can be contacted via twitter @therealylh and through his email address yasser.hamdani@gmail.com