Need for timely completion of Gwadar project stressed

LAHORE

India-Iran agreement for the development of Chabahar Port will not affect Gwadar Port while the Gwadar project could become the bright future of Pakistan if it is taken seriously and completed in time. The project will increase commercial interests of China, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries with Pakistan.

These views were expressed by the speakers at Jang Economic Session on ‘India-Iran Chabahar Agreement - Concerns of Pakistan.’ The panelists were Shamshad Ahmed Khan, Dr Salman Shah, Sheikh Arshad, Imtiaz Cheema, Prof Qalb-e-Abid, and Mehmood Ahmed while the seminar was hosted by Sikindar Lodhi.

Shamshad Ahmed Khan said India continued to weaken Pakistan since its creation, and the country’s survival is a big issue and the biggest challenge for its foreign policy. He said Pakistan has natural alliance with Iran due to long sharing border, common culture and language which cannot be overlooked while Iran is working on Chabahar Project since long but Gwadar Port is strategically important port in the region so that Chabahar will not affect it. He said Iran is attempting to revive its role through Chabahar. He said India will not get any benefit without Pakistan’s corridor while army should be ready to counter any geographical challenge. Dr Salman Shah said Gwadar was strategically important since its creation so despite all odds it was purchased from Oman and India could not consume Pakistan’s economic prosperity. He said Chinese economy size is $18 trillion which is 10 times bigger than Indian economy. He said Gwadar is a gateway to economic prosperity while Chabahar is just a port for India so that it will not affect Gwadar. He believed that Gulf States will prefer Gwadar due to Saudi Arabia-Iran tension. He said special economic zone should be established in Gwadar and could be run on Dubai model. He hoped Pakistan, China and Gulf States’ economic groups likely to emerge soon from Gwadar.

Sheikh Arshad said India has planned to invest $150 billion in Chabahar to establish steel mills and fertilizer factories while energy sector is focused in CPEC, but not Gwadar infrastructure development. He said CPEC will ensure Chinese access to Central Asian States so that foreign policy should be changed accordingly. He said if India, Iran and Afghanistan will unite against Pakistan then problems can increase so that Pakistan revisits its foreign policy to improve ties with Afghanistan and Iran. He said Zarb-e-Azb has created peace but Pakistan has lost Afghan market which affected the industrial sector of Pakistan.

Imtiaz Cheema said Gwadar Port was delayed due to negligence which deprived Pakistan of economic benefits but now the time has come to utilise its like Karachi Port. He said Chabahar is only 65-kilometre away so that effective policy should be evolved to maximise economic advantages from Gwadar. Prof Qalb-e-Abid said economic and trade is always focused globally in bilateral relations so Pakistan should also follow this principle as it reduces chances of war. He said both Pakistan and India have concerns with each other on Gwadar and Chabahar projects which should be redressed. He said there is no harm to improve ties with Iran as US is also doing so. He called for balancing the national and foreign policies to address economic concerns. Mehmood Ahmed said Chabahar is an attempt to put pressure on Pakistan’s economy. He said India always attempted to isolate Pakistan from world but now serious development work on Gwadar port will give long-term positive results to Pakistan. He said Chabahar is result of Pakistan’s weaknesses while the US is increasing ties with India so Pakistan should change its policies with US and adopt foreign policy according to the need of the hour. He said locals of Gwadar are still unsatisfied with the government’s initiatives so the government should focus on improvement of local infrastructure.