Recently India’s neighbors, China and Pakistan, are in news due to the arrest of Chinese Manager working on CPEC in Pakistan, over Blasphemy. The Chinese manager, Mr. Tian, is currently in a 14-day custody. According to reports, the manager was overseeing the heavy-duty equipment required for the CPEC project i.e., China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Pakistan has kept the Manager in a top security jail to avoid mob attack over the blasphemy charges. The Pakistani government did not want to take risks for the manager and put him in a maximum-security prison to avoid being attacked by other prisoners and others. This incident has a huge impact on CPEC and China-Pakistan relation as a whole.
In the recent years the relationship between China and Pakistan has suffered some setbacks. These cracks, in their relationship, were caused by a recent incident in which many Chinese engineers were killed in a bus attack near the Dasu Hydroelectric powerplant project. Due to this incident various Chinese Nationals living in Pakistan left the country in order to protect their lives from the terrorist organization Tarikh-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which took the responsibility for the attack.After this incident has made many Chinese engineers to resign from their jobs in order to decline the orders of going back to Pakistan. Only a selected few people agreed to come back to Pakistan to start their pending Projects which have already gone past their completion deadline. Today’s incident, charge of blasphemy on a Chinese Manager has also risked the future of these project funded by the World Bank and Chinese Government.
Case Study
Mr. Tian’s Pakistani interpreter alleged that the Chinese National has used ‘abusive language against Allah and Prophet Mohammed’ during a heated conversation with his about time taken off to do Namaz, while on duty during Ramadan, the Islamic month of Fasting. Tian denied the accusation and said that he has been falsely accused. When people got to about the situation they started to gather around and protest but the police officers nearby came and evacuated him by a helicopter and sent him to a high securityjail to prevent any harm towards the Chinese national. There was a similar case, in which a Sri Lankan national was burnt alive by the Pakistani People due blasphemy.
Impact on CPEC
This incident combined with the July 2021 bus attack incident would deeply frighten the Chinese nationals working at Dasu dam project and they would be very reluctant to continue their work there. Likewise, the violence would discourage new recruits from joining the project, thus inflicting a big crack to this limited China- Pakistan Cooperation.
FAQ:
What is the purpose of CPEC?
CPEC or China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a series of developmental projects in Pakistan to rapidly upgrade Pakistan’s important infrastructure and strengthen its economy. CPEC includes construction of special economic zones, ports, airports, hydroelectric power plants etc. CPEC is a signed agreement between Pakistan and China, in which Pakistan receives an amount of USD 60 billion for its infrastructure development.
What is the future of Pakistan?
Pakistan economic unrest has pushed the nation into a very tight position, that will last for a very long time. The future of the population of Pakistan is unknown due to severe shortage of food and clean drinking water as well as water for agriculture. The country is surviving on loans which is mostly given by its ‘all weather friend’ China. The development is also very slow in Pakistan due to corruption and various radical believes. The country has also banned its trade with India on the issue of Kashmir, which has impacted Pakistan with more loss than India, now that it has to buy products with a higher rates from different countries. The inflation rate of Pakistan is also at its all time high.
Pakistan Blasphemy Law?
Pakistan Blasphemy law is one of the worlds most strong Blasphemy laws, due to which many people have been killed by the people in mob attack as well as by the government of Pakistan. Moreover, EU has also urged Pakistan to remove these Blasphemy laws and Pakistan does not comply EU would remove the GSP plus status of Pakistan in European, which allows the Pakistan’s economy to be stable.