Due to its advantageous position and abundant natural resources, Pakistan's Baluchistan Province has long been at the forefront of both local and international affairs. "One key to its fate is the future of Gwadar," writes renowned author and geographer Robert D. Kaplan of the Baluchistan province. "A strategic port whose growth would either open the riches of Central Asia or plunge Pakistan into a brutal and potentially final civil war."
Unfortunately, Pakistan has not yet been able to access the wealth of Central Asia and the Caspian. However, since the construction of the Gwadar port began in 2002, the province of Baluchistan has been dealing with widespread insecurity and a lack of law and order. However, the state of law and order in Baluchistan has improved recently, and with the Chinese acquiring control of the Gwadar port in 2013, it is anticipated that commercial activity will increase even more once the port is fully operational.
The Port has gained the position of a vital strategic and economic port due to its strategic location close to the shipping lanes (route), connecting the three main continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe. Given that the Straits of Hormuz and its surrounding waterways account for more than 60% of world trade and oil tanker transportation, Gwadar port stands out as the ideal alternative and storage port because it can accommodate large ships and oil tankers. Including Panamax and mother boats, the port's 14.5-meter draught can handle up to "fifth-generation" ships.
Additionally, the Gwadar deep-sea port can operate all year round and can accommodate big ships carrying oil. Being a crossroads between nations with abundant energy resources and those that lack them, it can help China and India, two of Asia's fastest-growing economies, connect to the Middle East and Central Asia. The strategic and financial importance of the Gwadar Port has increased as a result of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which connects Gawadar with Kashgar.
The CPEC project has enormous geopolitical and economic potential. Since the plan will alter the geo-strategic and geo-economic environment of the area, it has been called a watershed moment for not only Pakistan but the entire region. Conflicting geo-economic interests could result in unfavorable regional and international competitiveness, it is also believed. The CPEC project gains additional geopolitical relevance for the stakeholders in light of anticipated competition between China and the US and efforts by the latter to ensnare the former.
Additionally, the United States and India share interests, particularly in opposition to China's expanding global influence. Security issues for Pakistan and China are being caused by the US and India's overlapping interests. Pakistan needs a comprehensive security strategy that makes use of all of its national power (EONP) to ensure that it is implemented on schedule.
Indeed, CPEC is a crucial regional element of China's "One Belt, One Road" plan. The idea of "One Belt, One Road" may have been introduced by President Xi Jinping during a speech at the Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan on September 7, 2013, but it has roots that date back decades and are a result of China's economic growth and desire for a strategic outreach to Europe and Africa in addition to Asia. It is a rebirth of the ancient Silk Road that takes into account the needs of contemporary communication and infrastructure.
"Setting up of a geopolitical and geo-economics Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) connecting China to Europe by land and sea" is how One Belt, One Road would be realized. She was driven to expand this to have a linkage of hinterland with Europe, Africa, and then with the US away from Asian countries, starting from regional integration of Euro-Asia, due to the enormity of Chinese economic expansion and construction of highways and the railroad network.
The detention of Indian spy Kulbashan Yadav has further demonstrated how India, along with certain other major powers and regional nations, is actively working to undermine Pakistan and oppose the CPEC. Baluchistan's destabilization has been facilitated, directly or indirectly, by international entities opposed to the Port and CPEC. In the name of Baloch sub-nationalism, the local Baloch populace was incensed that the Federal Government was undermining their rights to their own territory. Some deceitful parts of the Province even carried out the wishes of its master's thanks to significant finance from rivals of the port, mainly India.
Fortunately, attitudes toward the local Baloch people have changed significantly during the past few years. They are gradually escaping the spying networks of India and other regional and international superpowers. Particularly the Baloch youth have come to understand that it was a scheme to undermine their interests and destroy the Gwadar port.
Indeed, according to Richard Auty's renowned work, "Sustaining Development in Mineral Economies," which was abstracted to create the "Resource Curse Theory," Natural resources are undoubtedly desired, but they have the potential to severely skew the economy, turning them from a blessing into a punishment. In Pakistan's Baluchistan province, this is precisely what is taking place. At the regional and international levels, there have been plots against the state of Pakistan by those who are interested in the resources or fearful of Pakistani gains.
A regional and international marine center was what the Gwadar Port planned to achieve. Promoting economic growth in Pakistan's northern and western regions was the primary domestic driver for the port's development. Regionally, the port offers China, a landlocked country, the quickest access to the Arabian Sea. Central Asian Republics and Afghanistan for their transshipment facilities. However, globally, it is the best alternative and a storage port, owing to its potential to handle major ships and oil tankers. The Port will play a major role in the regional economic development and prosperity. It is therefore desired that rather than becoming rivals, India, and other immediate neighbors of Pakistan should play a positive role in the completion of CPEC and operationalization of the Gwadar Port. It indeed is a win-win situation for all.
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