The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor of the Belt and Road Initiative by Siegfried O. Wolf

Author:Siegfried O. Wolf
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030161989
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

6.15.2 Geographic Stability: Good Governance

The CPEC’s major challenge consists in a lack of good governance in Pakistan-Truncated political rights , freedom of press and opinion as well as academic freedom are but a part of the problem. The official rhetoric regarding the CPEC is being overshadowed criticisms and reports about a number of shortcomings. We witness a growing number of complaints about land acquisition , forced displacement of people, guided/forced migrations , resource exploitation , environmental problems (e.g., pollution , deforestation), and especially human rights violations . People are deprived of the opportunity to express their concerns. They are often silenced through coercive force, harassment and intimidation—including illegitimate law enforcement and security agencies used against opponents to the CPEC, from politicians and activists to academics and the media . The situation worsened at the beginning of 2018. Regions perceived by the national leadership as restive and/or are known as sceptical towards the CPEC are particularly affected. Besides plain censorship it now appears that the Pakistani establishment plans to use sceptics and critics—especially those belonging to religious and ethnic minorities —as scapegoats for failures in the CPEC-related developments. State authorities question the loyalty of minorities towards the Pakistani state, particularly when these communities are majoritarian in sensitive locations at the country’s borders157 (ICG, 2018, p. 25) . Claims are constructed accusing hostile foreign forces of instrumentalizing minorities so as to sabotage Pakistan’s development (SADF, 2018, July 11) . It is important to point out that this repressive mind-set is shared not only by the military leadership, but also by civilians. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) warned of this problem in 2016:

Freedom of speech and media , protest, movement and assembly are being violated and curbed on the pretext of “national security” or “national interest”. Even expression of genuine apprehensions over development plans or commitments made by the government are being rubbished as being against “national interest”. (HRCP, 2016, April 3).

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