Arun Joshi
Pakistan appropriating Gilgit-Baltistan violates the international law. This territory is a valuable asset to Beijing's One-Belt-One Road initiative as also the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. India should not be caught as a strategically absent nation. There are enough warning signs.

The Karakoram highway connecting Pakistan’s provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan with China. Reuters file

Arun Joshi

The Pakistan National Security Council's (NSC) decision to grant greater administrative authority and financial powers to the governments of 'Azad Kashmir' and that of Gilgit-Baltistan strengthens Islamabad's control over the territory and enables China to colonise the region, ignoring the fact that its fate is yet to be decided. Pakistan has gained this arrogance because of the all-out support of China, which is now competing with US to become the global leader.

Originally, the territory belonged to the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir that Maharaja Hari Singh had acceded to India in October, 1947. This means that historically it is a part of India. Pakistan contests that. It treats the whole of J&K as a 'disputed' territory. At world forums, it seeks the determination of the fate of the state as per the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions of 1948-1949 that envisage that the people would choose India or Pakistan as their future nation.

Read from either side, the latest announcement by the NSC appropriating these trans-Himalayan territories violates the international law. But it is least concerned because China, the new pivot in the emerging global order in which the US has virtually given up its leadership role, is backing its friend in changing the geographical and political landscape of the place. This territory is a highly valuable asset to Beijing's One-Belt-One Road initiative as also the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which has been acknowledged in Pakistan's political circles as a game-changer.

India has never voiced its concern seriously over Pakistan's games in the Himalayan area, which was earlier known as the Northern Areas. While India has failed to peddle its case in the international circles, China is blunting all claims of Delhi with the display of both hard and soft powers. The hard power is backing what Pakistan does and soft power display was on in the Indo-China 'informal summit' in Wuhan, China, a few weeks ago. Till date, it is not known formally as to what transpired between Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their 'informal summit'.

Viewed in the present context, it would be reasonable to conclude that China is helping Pakistan to accord permanent status to Gilgit-Baltistan as Pakistan's fifth province to stem all doubts and possible international irritants to its ambitious CPEC. The game is much larger than it appears — it seeks to weaken the Indian role in the region and pin it down in the Indian part of Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmir is worse than being India's Achilles heel.

The Pakistan NSC statement on Saturday (May 19) is another marker in its strategy to make Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan its inalienable parts and to force Delhi's hands on the Indian part of Kashmir. The timing of the NSC meeting and its decisions was not a mere coincidence, for on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 330-MW Kishanganga hydroelectric project.

Pakistan had opposed the construction of this project from day one, when its blueprint was being made. And, now even after commissioning of the project that will light homes and lives of the people of the area besides enriching the economy, Islamabad has moved the World Bank, alleging violation of the WB-brokered Indus Water Treaty of 1960 — a typical cry baby attitude that it has not been able to shed, even though it is 70 years old.

The inauguration of the Kishanganga hydroelectric project means the integration of the waters of Kishenganga that flows as Neelum river into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir into the Indian projects in Kashmir. So Pakistan NSC, essentially the military enterprise, decided to upset India by strengthening its claim on the region, rich with water and natural beauty.

This was a well-planned strategic calculation at work. The NSC statement, apart from granting greater administrative and financial authority to Gilgit-Baltistan alongside PoK, announced the "grant of a five-year-tax holiday to Gilgit-Baltistan so as to create adequate incentives for the development of the region and bring it on a par with the other areas of Pakistan."

A reading of the fine print shows that the tax holiday is for those investing in the region. There are hardly any local entrepreneurs in the region. It has suffered neglect all these decades, until the Chinese found a goldmine in its natural resources, so the benefit would go to the Chinese companies. It is clear to the naked eye. And geographically and politically, it is a sophisticated looking attempt to integrate it with Pakistan.

Further, "the NSC instructed the interior ministry to refine its proposals for a liberalised visa regime, in particular for tourists and businesspersons". The opening of areas, hitherto forbidden, to tourists is one of the internationally recognised strategies to lay claim on an area. Pakistan is playing the same game.

The Gilgit-Baltistan region has an unmatched beauty with a rich potential to attract tourists, meaning thereby that the world would see it as part of Pakistan. It is also to raise stakes of the people who are agitated over the exploitation of their land and water by China with the connivance of the Punjabi-dominated Pakistan. They were deprived of the economic benefits coming out of the dams and roads and other infrastructure projects. The measures would benefit China more, but it will serve as a deception to buy the silence of the people who had started showing signs of rebellion against their exploitation.

Chinese troops are already there — guarding their infrastructure projects. But at the same time, they have become an eyesore for the natives. Chinese companies have started holding Chinese classes and children are being forcibly taught the Chinese language and traditions. The ethnic and religious cultures are being trampled upon.

And who would these businessmen be? They would be Chinese, because Americans or Europeans would not risk their money in a land that is becoming part of the Chinese expansionist ambitions. Pakistan is helping China in this process.

India should be more than worried. With such nexus between Beijing and Islamabad, there would be security concerns as the Chinese troops are stationed close to the strategically important Siachen glacier, and within the Valley, trouble is growing. China is fiddling with the idea of mediation. India should not be caught as a strategically absent nation. There are enough warnings on the wall that it should read.

ajoshi57@gmail.com

Courtesy: Tribune: May 22, 2018