A tale of two ports

That the Foreign Office has taken a prudent approach to India-Afghanistan bilateral trade is a fact as it has downplayed the Iran, India and Afghanistan's endeavour to apparently use Iranian Port Chabahar for bilateral trade, saying Pakistan does not regard it as an alliance against the country and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
"We do not regard it as any kind of alliance against us. Our trade with Afghanistan, Iran and China continues as before," Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal has been quoted as saying. The arrival of massive wheat consignment from India at Chabahar for Afghanistan does constitute some legitimate concerns in Pakistan because both Gwadar and Chabahar ports will be competing each other anytime soon. The Foreign Office's argument that the two ports are complementary to each other does not appear to be plausible.