BETTER

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EditorlsNote r:,, 'Bakhtiar

From the Chairman's Desk Lt Gen Naeem K Lodhi

Supporting Kashrnir

The Real Trump Gen Mirza Aslam Beg

Election Years' Paki stan: 2Al7-20 1 8

Challenges and Changes

THINKERS FORUM PAKISTAN

Evolving Regional Security Dynamics and Brig Asif Haroon Raja

Impact on Pakistan's Security

ttI Cnina Pakistan Economic Corridor Mr. Kashif Mateen Ansari

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ttI Allah's Sisnanrre Engr. Sultan Bashir Mahmood I

Intl Conf 'Muslim & Buddhist Sacred Art Dr. Z AQureshi& Architecture'

Goals & Objectives BakhtiarTime Management Eleven Tips

ttI Behbud Association a Beacon of Hope Ms. Hajra Saeed

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ttI CeeC & the 2l" Century Convergence of Mr. Andrew Korybko

I

lCivilizations It1ItI Nationat Action Plan or a Confession of Mr. Kashif Riaz Awan I

I a Failed State It)

AMS Repoft2011 Editor

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GHINA PAKISTAN EGONOMIGGORRTDOR (GPEG)

At the moment CPEC is one ofthe most significant topics underdiscussion. It ranges from thedrawing rooms to the floors ofthe National and the Provincialassemblies. Though the CPECis rightly a game changer in theregion and especially, for Pakistanbut it has also evoked a lot ofpositivity mixed with anxiety,unfounded fears, and somerightly-placed apprehensions. As soon as CPEC wasannounced, there was a visible lobby which lost noopportunity to finding fault with the CpEC, the wayit is planned or in the manner it is executed as well ashow it moves forward. While we will try to discusssome reservations about CPEC, we will also try tosteer our discussion in areas, which are often not yettouched upon in the popular discourse. CPEC has beenmaligned on various bases ranging from Punjab beingthe favored beneficiary, to the fears of the Baloch losingtheir own homeland and becoming a minority. However,if you look at Chinese history for the last thousandsof years, China has never engaged with occupationalwars, it does not bear any favoritism towards takingover and subjugating other people. The way CPEC Isplanned, it is a large infrastructural project having noparallel in the history of Pakistan. It is planned as anetwork of roads and rail bridges and tunnels and thenadding together industrial zones and power generationbeing the most dominant element of the grand project.Now in the area of power generation we all know thatin the early harvest projects, we are looking at almost10,000 MW of energy ultimately getting to our grids.Already work on grid projects is underway that meansthe bottleneck created by our old and poorly maintainedgrid would be solved. New grid lines are being plannedand at least a few of the maior ones have started cominson ground.

Another fear is that the cheap Chinese goods aregoing to elbow out the Pakistani products. I think thisis an unfounded fear because what we are seeing inthe core projects of CPEC, they do not relate to anycheap product. First of all we are looking at the powerplants. The Pakistani manufacturers and the Pakistaniindustrial sector have nothing to offer in competitionwhere we can produce the power machinery the turbine

generators or the power plants. While we are looking atthe roads and the railways most of the raw material inthe form of cement and steel will come from the localarea economy and once it comes to the constructionof these mega projects I believe there is still a divisionover the underlying sub-contracting between theChinese and the Pakistani businessmen. However,what we must look at is that, at the moment at manylevels Pakistani businesses do not possess the adequateexperience and knowledge in high- level engineeringand technology. They will be best served by theirinteraction with the ongoing and the future projects andworking in those areas where they have a competitiveadvantage and yet being exposed to those areas whichare traditionally new to us and thus creating newexpertise and understanding. The real trade betweenChina and Pakistan will start and as the numbers gowe are looking at hundreds of thousands of containersmoving over these arteries. Obviously this will giverise to enormous economic activity ranging from thelogistics businesses to the services and supplies en-route for the trade convoys going down to Gwadar andI believe that the people living in the far flung areasof the Baluchistan, KP and GB will see unprecedentedeconomic growth which they have never seen before.With the better network of railways and roads theywill be connected to the outside world, informationknowledge and money will flow-in, opportunities willgrow so shall the economy.

With the availability ofpower and increase in the powergeneration we are sure that the economic activity willgrow There will be remarkable increase in the GDP andthe peripheral economic activity will also be stimulatedby the availability of the power. There will be a certaincost to it. First of all you must allay the fears about theCPEC being loaded on the weak economic backboneof Pakistan in the form of the costly debt. First ofall not all the part of the CPEC is debt, and second,if there is a debt associated with the project that canproduce returns in excess ofthe interest burden ofthedebt then such a debt can only enhance the economicactivity and will not harm the economy in general.Although it is very easy to criticize the CPEC and theChinese investment marking it as purely debt but if youlook back a few years even from my own experienceof developing a Wind Power Project, Pakistaniprojects were struggling to find any financing in theinternational market. Hence, even the availability of theforeign debt by virtue of CPEC is a positive thing forour economy. However, generally the kind of fear that

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is evoked by the perception of the foreign debt actually

relates to the debt which is not used for any productive

set-up of projects or economically viable project. If a

foreign debt is used only to pay off for the largesse or

the corruption of the ruling elite then obviously that

debt is atrap that would lead any economy to ruin. But

in case of CPEC projects, the investments which are

coming in the form of debt, will ultimately result inthe construction of power plants or the erection of the

major grid lines or the network of motorways, rails and

roads along with the industrial estates, allied industries

and the dry ports, which will have a positive impact on

our economy.

What we have yet failed to understand is that CPEC

requires something more, not only that this is an

economic activity creating enormous economic

opportunities for the people but also there will be an

uu"tt t. of the cultural exchange and enhance friendlyties, with not only China but with all the regional players

in Central Asia and South Asia. I believe the real long

term effect of the CPEC would be the integration ofthis region in a friendlier economic zone lowering ofthe restrictions on the movement of trade, goods, and

people. It is likely to enhancethe cultural exchanges

between us, the Central Asian states, China and rest

of the South Asia. What we need to look forward to

is how we can enhance the technical knowledge and

the productivity of our people, how to get ready for

the incoming competitions, how to benefit from the

enormous opportunities that are going to open in front

of us, how not to get carried away by our fears rather

to look towards our future with hope and promise. We

must also start thinking on the lines that we have to put

down the gauntlet and reduce the negativity towards

the regional players, though this has to be reciprocated

from all sides but nonetheless we have to change the

narrative on our side also. We have to bring forth a

narrative of peace, a narrative of mutual co-existence

and respect for all the players in the region. We have

to cultivate and encourage any opportunity to improve

ties with India and we must look towards China to help

us in settling our dispute over Kashmir and water' We

must look towards Afghanistan to help Afghanistangain stability which in turn would stabilize our tribalareas and foremost we have to equip our young

generation with the modern knowledge and tools to be

ibt. to take part in economic activity that is now being

unleashed from the heights of Himalayas down to the

shores of Gwadar.

2017

ALLAH'S SIGNATURE

Allah (,i,1) is the Name ofthe Creator

of the universe and everYthing

in it. The Most Beneficent and

Merciful, Inventor of everYthing,

Exalted Powerful, The Just,

Most Forgiving, Dignified, All-knowing, Wise, Hears all, Sees all,

Magnanimous,. Like whom there

is none

6/,2tt'r2iHuman beings express their feelings of love, gratitude

and awe in many ways; by building places of worship

for Him, Mosques, Churches and Mandirs. Artists have

tried to depict His Sacred names in colourful ways'

Calligraphists try their best to write His Sacred Name

in various beautiful waYS.

In Arabic language the word Allah consist of 3 letters'

, J J ' They have written His Sacred Name by using

these three letters in unexhausted number of ways,

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