Pizza corruption scandal risks dragging China into Pakistan’s domestic affairs

Tom Hussain

Imran Khan has been trying to seal allegations that his top belt-and-road official failed to disclose interests in a US pizza chain.

The ruling PTI party has suggested India is behind the claims, which are attracting a backlash and may again pull China into its ally’s domestic affairs.

A former army general who was last year put in charge of China’s belt and road projects in Pakistan has become embroiled in a corruption scandal, once again dragging Beijing into its close ally’s dirty domestic politics.Pakistan’s government and powerful military have worked hard to suppress the mainstream media’s coverage of allegations that retired lieutenant general Asim Saleem Bajwa’s family built a multimillion-dollar US-based business which grew in parallel to his ascent through the ranks. The allegations were made in a report published last month by the independent news website FactFocus, co-founded by renowned Pakistani investigative journalist Ahmad Noorani.

The report claims that Bajwa failed to declare his wife’s stake in the business – the single largest franchise holder for US pizza chain Papa John’s – when he submitted details of his wealth to Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Bajwa was obliged to make public details of his wealth and assets after being appointed the prime minister’s special assistant on information in April – a role he performs alongside his job as the chairman of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority.

The former military spokesman said he “strongly rebutted … a malicious propaganda story published on an unknown site, against me and my family”.

Khan’s ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party, responding to the allegations on Twitter, characterised the allegations as an attack on the CPEC Authority by “a dissident social media group sitting abroad … to further the Indian agenda”.

They paint it as a nefarious effort to undermine China and PakistanMichael Kugelman, Wilson Centre

The PTI has also launched a social media campaign to discredit the allegations, entitled #IndianProxiesAttackCPEC – an ultranationalist narrative which was subsequently echoed by some popular cable news channels. Parallel to this social media campaign, the government suppressed mainstream media coverage of the allegations against Bajwa. “For Beijing and Islamabad, the goal will be to focus on how to keep these allegations out of the public eye,” said Michael Kugelman, senior South Asia associate at the Wilson Centre, a Washington-based think tank. “So long as there’s not much public buzz, the allegations can be shrugged off by both governments as a mere distraction. But if they start getting more airplay in Pakistan, then the allegations can become more damaging, and there could be big problems,” he said. 
However, the Pakistani media blackout was broken on Tuesday after Maryam Nawaz, daughter and heir apparent of ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, accused the government of double standards for characterising FactFocus’ expose of Bajwa’s undeclared wealth as an attack on the CPEC. She pointed out that Sharif, “the founder of CPEC who brought US$60 billion of Chinese investment to Pakistan”, was forced to step down as prime minister by the Supreme Court in July 2017 for failing to declare that he drew a salary from a family business in the United Arab Emirates, in order to secure a residence visa. In a TV interview aired late on Thursday, Bajwa said he would resign from his cabinet role as special assistant to Khan, but continue as chairman of the CPEC Authority. 
After consulting his family, Bajwa said he would “put all my energy into CPEC because we thought that a lot of focus is currently needed on the CPEC Authority”. Critics, however, claimed Bajwa’s decision was motivated by a desire to avoid the public scrutiny he and his family’s business would be subject to as long as he held a cabinet position. 
Prime Minister Khan refused to accept Bajwa’s resignation on Friday, saying he was satisfied with the explanation given for the ex-general’s family’s US$70 million business. While Pakistan’s opposition parties fully endorse Islamabad’s alliance with Beijing, they have opposed the creation of the CPEC Authority and the appointment of Bajwa as its head.

 In July, the opposition thwarted a proposal to make Bajwa the key decision maker in Pakistan’s belt and road negotiations with China, in place of the elected planning minister. FactFocus’ founder Noorani claims he has received more than 100 death threats following the government’s social media campaign, sparking calls from journalists’ organisations in Pakistan and abroad for an official investigation. “Pakistan authorities must investigate who is behind these malicious online attacks … and ensure that such threats are not tolerated,” said Steven Butler, Asia programme coordinator for the Washington-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Kugelman said many Pakistanis were joining their government in blaming the allegations against Bajwa on India.

 “They paint it as a nefarious effort to undermine China and Pakistan at a moment when New Delhi’s relations with both are experiencing a major low,” Kugelman said. “In this sense, India and India-China tensions give Islamabad a useful pretext to shirk responsibility and outsource blame on the usual external suspects.”

Previously, Khan was a self-described CPEC sceptic and while in opposition attacked the programme launched by his predecessor and political nemesis Nawaz Sharif as a debt trap, echoing US criticism of the Belt and Road Initiative.In its ruthless pursuit of corruption charges against Sharif and other opposition politicians, PTI politicians have not hesitated to attack CPEC projects.

In February last year, communications minister Murad Saeed accused Sharif and his ministers of siphoning US$420 million in funds for a motorway built by the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC).

Saeed alleged the CSCEC had been awarded an inflated US$2.94 billion contract for the motorway linking the cities of Multan and Sukkur.

Responding at the time, CSCEC said it felt “extremely shocked by the groundless allegations”.

The PTI’s anti-corruption rhetoric was later that month drastically curtailed, however, after Indian warplanes crossed into Pakistani airspace to attack a training camp for Kashmiri militants.

Pakistan became increasingly reliant on China’s diplomatic support during the subsequent escalation of tensions, which peaked in August last year after India revoked the semi-autonomous status of the part of Kashmir it administers.

During a visit by Khan to Beijing last October, Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to raise the Kashmir dispute at the United Nations Security Council. The decision was announced immediately before Xi flew to the Indian city of Chennai for an informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

. Bajwa was appointed CPEC Authority chairman soon afterwards, in response to China’s complaints about the slowed implementation of belt and road projects.

The tensions sparked by China’s unprecedented diplomatic intervention on behalf of all-weather ally Pakistan boiled over in June, when Chinese troops occupied previously Indian-held territory in Ladakh , a northern region of Kashmir adjoining Tibet.China’s diplomatic support to Pakistan has been made all the more crucial by the refusal of its other close ally, Saudi Arabia, to confront its major trading partner India.Riyadh’s refusal has stymied Islamabad’s attempts to persuade the 57-member Jeddah-based Organisation of Islamic Conference to censure New Delhi.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in an August 7 television appearance, threatened to form a breakaway Pan-Islamic platform with Muslim countries which have criticised India over Kashmir – a list comprising Saudi Arabia’s rivals Turkey and Iran, as well as Malaysia.

Khan had agreed to attend a Malaysia-hosted summit of these countries last year, but quickly changed his mind after Saudi Arabia conveyed its displeasure.

Qureshi’s recent outburst came after Saudi Arabia – apparently annoyed by Pakistan’s complaints – demanded the early repayment of most of a US$3.2 billion loan extended in October 2018 to help Khan’s newly-elected government weather a balance of payments crisis. Pakistan paid off US$1 billion of the Saudi loan recently with money urgently borrowed from China – which is widely expected to soon lend Islamabad another US$1 billion to settle matters with Riyadh.

In a TV interview on August 20, Khan denied there had been a breakdown in relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

But he also said: “China is our only friend which has remained politically steadfast with Pakistan during good and bad times. It should be clear that our future is connected with China,” Khan said. “China also needs Pakistan very much.” This quid pro quo was reflected in a statement issued by Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs after a round of “strategic talks” between Qureshi and Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing on August 21.

Appreciating China “for standing together with Pakistan in safeguarding its national security and sovereignty”, Islamabad reaffirmed its firm support to Beijing “on affairs concerning China’s core interests and issues of major concern, such as those related to Taiwan ,Xinjiang , Tibet and Hong Kong.

This apparent Pakistani endorsement of China’s mass detention of ethnic Uygur Muslims in so-called re-education camps is Islamabad’s first official stance on the controversy.

Previously, Khan feigned ignorance about the events in Xinjiang, although more recently he admitted it was a sensitive issue discussed with Pakistan’s Chinese friends behind closed doors.However, the momentous decision has barely received a mention in the Pakistani media, because of clear instructions from the government.The emergence of corruption allegations against Bajwa at this crucial diplomatic juncture in China-Pakistan relations threatens to create geopolitical complications for both.Although primarily a domestic issue, “when the head of CPEC’s operations in Pakistan is accused of such serious wrongdoing, then that’s a big problem for a giant connectivity project with sky-high strategic significance and very high stakes”, Kugelman said. ■

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3100328/pakistans-pizza-corruption-scandal-risks-cheesing-top-ally-china