'A tale of two ports'

15 Dec, 2017

This is apropos a Business Recorder editorial 'A tale of two ports' carried by the newspaper recently. The title brings to a reader's mind the title of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. The newspaper has pointed out, among other things, that the presence of Pakistan's minister of ports and shipping Mir Hasil Bizenjo at the inauguration of long-awaited $1 billion (including $235 million from India) project to expand Chabahar port clearly explains Iran's strategy through which it seeks to send a message to Pakistan that its southeastern port constitutes no challenge or threat to latter's Gwadar port. But no one can deny the fact that while the port would bring, as argued by Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, "more engagement and unity" among countries in the region, India can expand its network of wrecking havoc in Pakistan in an effective manner.
The development of Chabahar port in the neighborhood of Gwadar is therefore fraught with some new dangers to Pakistan's internal security. It has been established beyond a shadow of a doubt that India had been involved in terrorist activities in Balochistan with a view to undermining the execution of China Pakistan Economic Corridor in particular. The confession of convicted RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav that he had stationed himself in Chabahar before unlawfully entering Pakistan's Balochistan is a strong case in point. It is expected that the Rouhani government is not unmindful of Pakistan's legitimate concerns with regard to India's growing presence in Iran.

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