China’s decision to invest heavily in Pakistan will have far reaching economic and political impact. This may also be a turning point for war on terror. The Pakistani Army must be on board to eliminate this curse of terrorism otherwise China would not have jumped into this venture. This article in Dawn illustrates why this project is important for China. Two days ago NYT also had an article which describes dwindling influence of America in Asia. (f.sheikh).

During his visit to Pakistan, China’s president will discuss a raft of energy and infrastructure deals as part of wider ambitions to open new trade and transport routes across Asia.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan had already generated a sense of nervous anticipation. Originally expected to come in September last year, Xi’s visit was postponed in the wake of prolonged anti-government protests in Islamabad, with the government not want anything untoward happening this time round.

As well as signing a raft of energy, trade and investment agreements, the Chinese president will inaugurate Balochistan’s Gwadar port, which is part of the 3,000 kilometre-long strategic China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which could radically alter the regional dynamics of trade, development and politics.

Gwadar, once a part of Oman before it was sold to Pakistan in 1958, is one of the least developed districts in Balochistan province. It sits strategically near the Persian Gulf and close to the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 per cent of the world’s oil passes.

The construction and operation of this multi-billion dollar deep-sea port at Gwadar was contracted to a Chinese company in 2013 and some analysts argue that the port could turn into China’s naval base in the Indian Ocean, enabling Beijing to monitor Indian and American naval activities.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1177116/chinas-new-silk-road-whats-in-it-for-pakistan

(shared by Tahir Mahmood)

The Rise of the Iranian Empire – The Tower – The Tower

http://www.thetower.org/article/the-rise-of-the-iranian-empire/

( Various views on Pakistan) No one should be surprised to read that in Pakistan the army has taken charge, established military courts, derailed democracy, brought television and other media under military control. Nor should one be surprised to learn that foreign policy and national security were being directly run by the army. Many similar situations have occurred in Pakistan since 1958, when the army first came to power in a gradual coup, declared martial law, and ruled for a decade. The country has for years been under partial military rule, outright martial law, or military authority disguised as presidential rule.

But the arrangement that has evolved over the last six months is the strangest so far: the elected government remains in place but has few powers, and no longer rules the country. The media, opposition political parties, Parliament, and the intelligentsia are trying to resist the gradual military takeover but they are weak and ineffectual.

The single worst legacy of military rule since the 1970s, the time of the loss of East Pakistan—now Bangladesh—has been a ruinous foreign policy that has made enemies out of most of Pakistan’s neighbors owing to the safe havens that Islamic extremists from these countries have carved out in Pakistan. It is well known that such havens exist in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and Balochistan, but they are also located in many other parts of the country, from Lahore near the Indian border to the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan.

Because of its fear of India, Pakistan has been turned into a garrison state with a persisting paranoia about being surrounded by hostile countries and dominated by a demanding, belligerent United States. Yet the Pakistani army is the seventh-largest in the world with some 642,000 soldiers, 500,000 reserves, and an arsenal of 120 nuclear weapons.

Still, since September 11, 2001, the army has often been ineffectual. Pakistani extremists have killed up to 30,000 Pakistani civilians and 15,000 members of the Pakistan military. Pakistan is living in the midst of a partially self-created bloodbath of terrorism that is more comparable to Iraq and Nigeria than to India or Bangladesh.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2015/apr/02/fierce-pressures-facing-pakistan/

Another hideous and senseless terrorist attack in Copenhagen took innocent lives. Our sincere sympathies to the family and friends of the victims. We condemn such hideous acts unequivocally.

Unfortunately the knee jerk reaction is going to be as usual to increase the security measures. Unfortunately the problem is not the security measures but many alienated and angry Muslim youths, many of whom have no jobs, are discriminated against at every level in Europe. These are European born youths who are treated as aliens in their own country. More than 50% of the jail population in France is filled with Muslims which are prime target for extreme version of Islam.

Mr. Valls, PM of France, while reflecting on Paris terrorist attack said;

“A territorial, social, ethnic apartheid has spread across our country”

He cited “daily discrimination” against those who do not “have the right family name or the right skin color, or because the person is a woman.”

I hope some concrete action is taken on what Mr. Valls is acknowledging.