Sherry Rehman - Neither Pakistan nor China will accept dictation on where to build economic corridors

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Vice President PPPP Sherry Rehman said on Wednesday that reports about India organizing and celebrating a war carnival to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Indo-Pak war will further shrink the space for any semblance of normalcy left in the bilateral relationship.

“Muscular articulations such as these, or objecting to Pakistan’s CPEC route, will be seen as beating a war drum. Clearly, such moves will do very little in the way of resuming dialogue, which the BJP leader has stated his government’s interest in,” said the former ambassador.

According to reports, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ordered the armed forces, including the Indian Army and Air Force to organize the event from September 1 to 23 – the dates of the actual war. The carnival – reportedly comprising tableaux, exhibitions, processions, public lectures and film shows – will be held in the Indian capital.

Rehman said that any agenda for peace requires an appetite for it, not an investment in valourising memories of conflict.

CPEC reservations

Speaking on Indian reservations over the CPEC route, Rehman said that it must be borne in mind that the corridor passes entirely through Pakistan’s territory, and the reservation over transit through Kashmir is misplaced.

“Infrastructure projects are being developed on both sides of the LoC, which impact, foremost, the communities within Jammu and Kashmir. It may serve Kashmir and the broader region better if India’s foreign policy decision makers were to consider the economic benefits created from expanding trade with China and increased trade across the LoC.

Instead of finding pathways to peace and trade, it is unfortunate that the new “global re-positioning” of India includes large doses of coercive diplomacy and hard posturing. None of it will be helpful to constructing new regional economic dividends for South Asia,” she cautioned, “since neither China nor Pakistan will take dictation from India as to where to build highways that connect people for prosperity.”