Pakistan has made a conditional offer to India that it can be connected with China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) if the outstanding issues between the two countries are resolved. "We've the potential to connect India with Central Asian states, Europe and the rest of the world if it is ready to resolve outstanding issues between our two countries", a senior government official said while talking to Business Recorder on Wednesday.
He said that Northern India can be connected to CPEC under the One Belt One Road initiative once outstanding disputes are resolved. "If we [Pakistan] can exploit the potential of connectivity, we can become a massive trade corridor and economic hub...CPEC is a half of the 'dream' and the second part is stability in Afghanistan," he added.
Peace would benefit not only Pakistan but the whole region which would enable Pakistan to become a trade corridor. Pakistan is a gateway to the rest of the world and the whole region would benefit if Pakistan becomes the economic hub of Asia Pacific region, he said. To achieve this objective, disputes between India and Pakistan as well as between India and China need to be resolved. The region has greatly been altered with no dispute resolution mechanism in place, making the region more fragile which is a major challenge, he added.
He pointed out that Pakistan due to its strategic location is offering the world a unique opportunity of connectivity through the Indian Ocean; and Balochistan has the potential of creating four international cities on the coastline. "But efforts are being made to block this entry and exit point through India on one side and Afghanistan on the other side," he argued.
To pressurize Pakistan, he said that efforts are being made to sabotage CPEC, give a bad name to the country's nuclear programme while 11 entities linked to the country's nuclear programme have already been sanctioned. To put the blame on Pakistan for its [US] failure in Afghanistan, the US is diverting attention by demanding Shakil Afridi's release [who traced Osama bin Laden], speaking India's language on Kashmir, giving undue role to India in Afghanistan, sanctioning Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar and keeping Pakistan engaged in fighting terrorists.
"We were pushed to engage in FATA on the Western front while the prime objective of external forces was to work in Balochistan and Karachi to support separatist forces," he said. On the other hand, he stated that the US and its allies through its agenda of "containment of China" and "blocking Russia's resurgence" have posed a more serious challenge to the region as well as to the concept of economic integration of regional countries.
"The US is not in Afghanistan to win this war but it has a long-term objective to remain in Afghanistan to contain China and Russia's resurgence through its policy of 'rebalancing Asia'", he said, adding "the US is also exporting instability to the region through several signed defence cooperation agreements with India". While India, as the major ally of the US, is threatening to impose a limited war on Pakistan despite our nuclear capability, and thereby threatening regional peace and stability, he added.
Referring to internal challenges, he pointed out that the issue of extremism and sectarianism is a major internal challenge followed by continued political instability coupled with ethnic movements at provincial level and lack of governance. Another major challenge he pointed out is the 38000 religious seminaries operating in the country in which 3.5 million students are studying with no checks from the State. "There is no check on these seminaries' students after they complete their education," he added.