The China-Pakistan economic Corridor (CPEC) is a massive economic project aimed at linking north-western China with the Gwadar deep seaport on the mouth of the Arabian Sea in the south of Pakistan. The project was announced in early 2015 when President Xi Jinping visited Pakistan. China is planning to invest about 46 billion dollars in several projects of infrastructure development and power generation collectively termed as the CPEC.

It is an example of win-win cooperation as both China and Pakistan would be beneficiaries. China will get an alternative route to approach the sea, which is also the shortest and will save both money and time to import oil from the Middle East and export finished products to the Gulf, Africa and Europe.

Pakistan has already declared it as a game-changer for the country. It will help to develop some of the most impoverished regions of Pakistan through modern road and rail links, create massive job opportunities and address the perennial power shortages. It brings investment into the country when no other nation is ready to pump money into Pakistan due to security reasons.

The CPEC is too good for Pakistan. That is why it also faces opposition from some quarters and countries. India, from the start, objected to the route of the CPEC which passes through the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B). The mountainous and picturesque region is part of Kashmir which is disputed between Pakistan and India. The two countries have fought at least two major wars over Kashmir since their independence from Britain in 1947.

Indian objects to Chinese investment in the G-B under the pretext that it is disputed territory. But it is mentioned nowhere that a disputed region cannot be developed through foreign investment. The final status of Kashmir should be decided by people of Kashmir through fair plebiscite, according to UN resolutions. However, pending any decision about the plebiscite, there should be no bar on the economic progress and well-being of the people of Kashmir, including in the G-B region.

The Indian opposition is primarily due to several running problems with rival Pakistan. But India may not be the only country against the CPEC, as other nations might see it as strategic gain for China which is emerging power of the world. Once the CPEC is operational, China will have an additional route to the sea, in the case of any conflict, for international trade in addition to the one passing through the Strait of Malacca, which is an important trading passage in the world.

The CPEC is also an important part of the "Belt and Road" initiative which once completed would immensely increase China's global importance and outreach.

An important portion of the route of the CPEC passes through the southwestern province of Balochistan, of which Gwadar is a part. The security situation in the province has not been ideal for many years. Various militants, sectarian and separatist armed outfits are active and create senseless violence.

In one such incident on Monday, a suicide bomber targeted a gathering of lawyers in the provincial capital Quetta and killed more than 70 people, mostly law professionals. It was the worst attack in Pakistan since the East bombing in March which killed more than 70 people in the eastern city of Lahore. The attack has once again spotlighted the threat to the CPEC.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and powerful army chief Raheel Sharif separately termed that the Quetta attack was an effort to harm the economic corridor. "There is no doubt in my mind that enemies of Pakistan are after the CPEC," the prime minister said at a security meeting soon after the terrorist incident. The chief minister of the province, Sanaullah Zehri, directly accused India when he told the media after visiting a hospital to see the victim of the blast that India's Research and Analyst Wing (RAW) was behind the attack.

There is growing concern in Pakistan that the strategic and economic importance of the corridor makes it vulnerable to the regional and international conspiracies. The opponents want to sabotage the project in order to harm the interests of both China and Pakistan. Without going into the details about any real or imaginary "conspiracies" against the CPEC, it is evident that the brittle law and order in Pakistan would be a huge hurdle for any foreign investment of sizeable portion.

Pakistan and China should cooperate closely to address the security threat to this vital economic initiative. The project should be open for other nations to join if they want to invest. It would be better to use it for greater regional connectivity and development. Once more stakeholders join it, we would have more beneficiaries and defenders of the CPEC.

Sajjad Malik is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://china.org.cn/opinion/SajjadMalik.htm

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