Indian objections to CPEC based on particular route: Indian HC

Bambawale talks in Karachi; says road to normalisation
in bilateral trade lies in business relations; claims
Jammu and Kashmir internal issue of India

KARACHI: Indian Higher Commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale has said that India’s objections to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project are based on the particular route of the corridor, when it goes through areas to which both Pakistan and India claim sovereignty.

“We have not any problem with the CPEC project if it contributes to prosperity and stability in Pakistan but the problem for India comes when the corridor of the project goes through such areas where both of us claim sovereignty. That is from where our objections come from,” said the Indian high commissioner while addressing an interactive session held by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations here at a hotel on Monday. This was the first time the Indian high commissioner came to visit Karachi during his stay in Pakistan since January this year after his posting here.  

He said that India wanted to see a moderate and prosperous Pakistan, which is stable, at peace with itself and with its neighbours. “We desire to see Pakistan that is moderate, prosperous and stable. A Pakistan which is at peace with itself, a Pakistan which is at peace with its neighbours, a Pakistan which is at peace with the entire world. This is what we look to see,” he said.

The top Indian diplomat in Pakistan said that as far as he was concerned, the way forward for both the countries was to move in a direction where they could increase trust and confidence between the two governments and the nations.

“We should be doing whatever is in the interest of increasing trust and confidence between our two countries,” he said. He said the road to normalisation in bilateral trade lies in trade and business relations. This issue would be better dealt in Karachi, which is the financial and business capital of Pakistan where people know better what greater business and trade was all about.

“For this, I would recall that there is a full roadmap, which the two governments adopted in the year 2012-13. This is the roadmap that should be involved for moving forward in the coming years,” said the Indian high commissioner.

He said the volume of direct trade between India and Pakistan was just 2.5 billion US dollars while there was additional trade between the two nations through third countries, particularly Dubai, which comes to about five billion dollars.

He said the total trade volume of 07 to 7.5 billion US dollars between India and Pakistan was very much small, given what the normal volume of trade should be existing between large neighbouring countries. He said that according to several estimates, the potential of trade between India and Pakistan, at present, should be roughly around 20 billion US dollars.

“There is a huge gap that needs to be bridged, which needs to be worked on by all of you people who understand business and trade,” Gautam said. He gave the example of export of Indian garlic to Pakistan as timely arrival here of consignment of Indian commodity would be greatly helpful in decreasing to one-fourth of the garlic price in Pakistan.

“These are simple things that are in the interest of our people, which serves the economic interests of both the countries,” said the Indian diplomat. He also suggested that food assistance offered by India for Afghanistan in the form of wheat consignment should move forward through the Pakistani land from the Wagah border to Torkham border as such an arrangement would be in the interest of all the three countries.

“If we are able to take this very small step, it also helps in increasing the trust and confidence between the two countries, which is in great deal of shortage right now." He said that despite tense relations between Indian and Pakistan and row over terrorism incidents, the border security forces, Customs, maritime, and narcotics control agencies of the two countries had been maintaining very useful and cordial interaction and contacts with each other on operational level.

He said, for instance, owing to good and cordial interaction between border guarding forces of the two countries i.e. Border Security Force of India and Pakistan Rangers, there had been peace and tranquillity on the border between two countries in the wider perspective despite existence of higher than normal level of tension between the two neighbours.

He acknowledged that the entire process of awarding visas by India to the Pakistani business community had been very intricate as it would take about 45 to 60 days to get the visa. But he said that despite all the intricacy and lethargy involved in the process, India had been granting visas up to 90 per cent applicants from Pakistan. For instance, around 100,000 visa applications were received by the Indian High Commission in the year 2015 out of which visas were granted to 90,000 applicants.

He said very soon India would start issuing multiple-entry visas to prospective Pakistani businessmen willing to visit India to explore business and trade opportunities there. These visas would be issued on recommendations of chambers of commerce and industries here and would be valid for up to three years.

He suggested that India and Pakistan should hold talks on all the issues concerning the two countries but in particular they should lay stress on economic and people-to-people issues, which are like low-hanging fruits that should be capitalized on. He said that political issues existing between the two countries were much more difficult to resolve than the taking up and making progress on such issues.

The Indian diplomat gave the example of Indian and Chinese relations as despite persistence of border issues between the two neighbours, the two countries didn’t hold up progress on economic, trade and people-to-people relations. He said that owing to friendly relations between India and China, the trade volume between the two countries had increased from 02 billion US dollars to 75 billion US dollars. Some 5,000 Indian students are studying in China while an equal number of Chinese students were studying in India.

He suggested that India and Pakistan should have a greater number of sporting relations by holding more hockey, table tennis, and cricket matches between the two national teams. He appreciated that Pakistan sportsmen, actors, and singers had been going to India in a greater number as compared to any instance in the past without any hassle on issuance of visa to them.

KASHMIR TERMED AN INTERNAL ISSUE: Regarding the recent surge in the movement by people in the Indian-held Kashmir for securing their long-denied right to self determination and resultant state-perpetrated violence unleashed on them, the Indian high commissioner said he believed that Jammu & Kashmir was an internal issue of India. “I would strongly recommend that you should focus on your own problems rather than worry about problems in other countries."

He also lamented that despite repeated requests Pakistan had not provided any consular access to Indian diplomatic officials to meet the Indian national Kulbhushan Yadav, arrested by Pakistani agencies in Balochistan, about whom the high commissioner said that he (Yadav) had not been working for the Indian government for last many years.

Instead, he said that India had duly provided consular access to Pakistan authorities to one alleged Pakistani national Bahadur Ali, who had been arrested from Jammu & Kashmir and who had confessed to getting terrorism training from various areas in Pakistan.

Giving the vote of thanks, defence analyst Ikram Sehgal said that evenone fully acknowledged that there was variance of opinion and claims between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. But the Kashmiri forces, while tackling the movement by the people of Kashmir, should not fire pellets upon them, which resulted in blindness among large number of protesters.