Daily Times

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is regarded as the great game changer for Pakistan ushering in an era of progress, prosperity and creating employment opportunities thus helping in elimination of poverty through implementation of projects in different sectors under its umbrella.

CPEC is part of the larger Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) undertaken by China. Specifically speaking, the CPEC is a mega project between time-tested all weather friends, iron brothers and trusted and dependable neighbours People’s Republic of China and Pakistan focused broadly on project financing. CPEC, which has since entered the second phase of its implementation against all odds, sinister Indian designs and obstacles, is presently valued at over 60 billion dollars and likely to cross the coveted 100 billion dollars mark by 2030.

The CPEC is likely, and in fact so designed, to have significant geopolitical ramifications in the region. One of the main objectives of CPEC is to connect the Chinese border city of Kashgar to the southern part of Gwadar in Pakistan.

It is duly nationally and internationally acknowledged fact that CPEC is a great game changer for Pakistan and its people and aims at boosting connectivity in the region and beyond it. These prospects of progress, prosperity and development of Pakistan and welfare of its people without any discrimination accruing from CPEC is something which India cannot bear or withstand as it is determined and making all out efforts through massive financing to directly and indirectly damage CPEC and projects being undertake under its umbrella in Pakistan in continuation its persistent hostilities towards the neighbouring country by fascist regime of Narendra Modi.

Needless to mention here that civil and military leadership of Pakistan and its people are fully aware about sinister designs of India and fully alive to threats intended to be caused to CPEC related projects and taken adequate security measures especially for CPEC projects, Chinese engineers and technicians and locals working on these projects protection and safety and for foiling all evil and hostile designs of India.

CPEC as such has been in the line of fire from the India leadership, intelligence agencies, think tanks, mass media and social media projecting it as a potential threat to its hegemonic economic supremacy in the region.

Quite justifiably Pakistan and China have been emphatically advocating CPEC peaceful orientation and strategic utilization in terms of social development, economic sustainability , power generation, creating employment opportunities and above also massive infrastructural development.

While persisting with its proxy war against Pakistan and targeting CPEC in the process, the Indian government terms CPEC as anti-Indian because of its own self-defined so-called parameters of national as well as regional security.

According to the information available from official sources concerted in a well-documented form, the incumbent Indian PM is personally in command and supervising a terrorist cell working against CPEC.

Pakistan’s stance in pointing out India’s hostilities targeting CPEC has been further strengthened recently after the European Union shocking revelation about the existence of a vast Indian network comprising fake websites, NGOs and mass media outlets propagating against Pakistan and its just cause. Pakistan has been emphatically telling the world at large including the UN , Security Council and international forums about the direct and destructive role of the Indian intelligence agency RAW using its diplomatic missions in various neighbouring countries for organizing, directing and supporting the various terrorists outfits across Pakistan. India has an anti-CPEC terror cell which was operating through its Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) since 2015 was tasked to disrupt ,undermine and cause delays in CPEC projects.

Indian PM has also duly been identified as being behind the terror cell funding, directing , organizing and executing terrorists outfits and sub-nationals all over Pakistan .The cell was allocated a hefty amount of $ 500 million for funding terrorist activities against CPEC.

It has also been clearly established that there exists a direct correlation between Indian intelligence agency RAW and its localized franchises like Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), BRA, Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) and Tehrik Taliban Pakistan(TTP).

There has been a rise in terrorist attacks in Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan since CPEC was launched a couple of years back for increasing connectivity in the region and launching and financing projects in Pakistan for its progress and development.

CPEC as essential for Pakistan’s socio-economic future and that India wants to hurt Pakistan economically by undermining CPEC.

India is also known to make efforts for funding unrest in Pakistan by interference in domestic dynamics of the country , wrapping it into dark seas of political chaos and societal uncertainty. India is directly and indirectly involved in internal affairs of Pakistan through sponsoring hostile terrorist activities pumping as much as Rs 22 billion into different outfits for furtherance of its sinister designs to destabilize Pakistan and in the process also sabotaging great game changer CPEC.

As already mentioned above, Pakistan has taken adequate security measures to foil India’s evil designs against the country including CPEC , it is all the more important and essential that Pakistan should be updating the international community , all international forums like the UN through its network of diplomatic missions across the world in a determined and accelerated manner to expose and foil excessive anti-Pakistan and anti-CPEC false and baseless propaganda being sponsored and financed by India.

The writer is Lahore-based Freelance Journalist and Columnist and retired Deputy Controller (News), Radio Pakistan, Islamabad and can be reached at zahidriffat@gmail.com