A Beijing date-lined report says China has defended the presence of its personnel in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).
The Indian government keeps an eye on Chinese presence in PoK, the Defence Minister Arun Jaitley told the Lok Sabha and stated that China has been asked to “cease such activities” there.
China’s reported stand is that it is involved in “cooperative” activities for the benefit of locals’ uplift.
“They (Chinese in PoK) aren’t targeted against any country but are only involved in ‘cooperative activities’ to improve the livelihood of local people, foreign ministry officials said in Beijing. In essence their case is that India should have no objection when the Chinese in PoK are working on what could be termed as people’s welfare projects.
China’s involvement with PoK is not a new development. Pakistan and China have been collaborating for several decades by now, which started with the construction of Karakorum Highway in the seventies. In the recent years, Chinese engineers also moved in along with support security staff as China has been engaged in unblocking the artificial lake created by a huge landslide at Attabad. Chinese also have a direct stake in the exercise as the lake has been blocking direct transport; trucks are crossing the lake by barge as of now.
The Karakorum Highway has acquired a new strategic significance with China and Pakistan deciding to make it a four lane high way and make it a part of the economic corridor with rail and pipelines between Xinjiang and Gwadar Port on the Balochistan coast. The port is a Chinese venture that has come as a part of network of ports set up in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea to serve the larger Chinese goal posts in the security and energy sectors.
India looks at these multi-billion dollar ventures with suspicion and concern in equal measure.
Suspicion because these ventures donot gel with the publicly stated Chinese position that Kashmir issue is “an issue left over from history between India and Pakistan”. Concern because the presence of Chinese civilians in POK has made PLA to send large contingents of troops to ensure security cover to them from Taliban and Uyghur militants. While the primary target of Taliban is Shias, who are a majority in Gilgit- Baltistan belt, the Uyghur militants are after the mainland Chinese, who constitute the bulk of the Chinese work force in POK and across Pakistan.
“As a neighbour and friend of India and Pakistan, China advocates that the Kashmir issue should be properly resolved through dialogue and consultations between India and Pakistan”, the Chinese foreign ministry officials said, according to the dispatch from Beijing. There is nothing per se in these remarks.
There is another factor as well.
The total number of Chinese troops in POK is said to be substantial at around 5,000 plus, and their presence is meant to serve twin purposes.
1. The stated goal: Checking militants’ attacks on local Chinese workers.
2. Unstated goal: Checking militants’ forays into Uyghur belt in Xinjiang using the KH as their highway.
The second goal post should be of concern to Pakistan as well since the military leadership treats the presence of Uyghur Muslims in the Taliban camps across North Waziristan with a benign smile.
—-RAM SINGH KALCHURI
