Let’s recall our memories of a speech of a senior Pak Army official that he delivered as the chief guest at a military educational institution in Rawalpindi on India’s Republic Day in 2014, asserting that India poses no greater threat to Pakistan but extremism/terrorism does.
The statement of Mr. Ahsan Iqbal clearly expresses that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is pivotal for both Pakistan and China. It is a $ 46 billion project, which will connect Chinese province of Xinjiang with Pakistani port of Gwadar through the land route.
India never paid much attention to Gilgit-Baltistan or even claimed it along with Kashmir, so much so that the world did not even know that the ‘Kashmir dispute’ included the region of Gilgit-Baltistan, it was thought to be just the Kashmir valley which was claimed by both countries. Indian claim on Gilgit-Baltistan is a relatively recent development because it feels threatened by increasing Chinese influence and the China Pakistan Economic Corridor CPEC.
The China Pakistan Economic Corridor runs through one of the most important and central geo-strategic locations in South Asia, its main port Gwadar’s natural layout and depth enables largest tonnage ships to dock there, a characteristic which is absent in Dubai and Chahbahar ports.
