The Corridor Of Power

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Debate

(Courtesy gandhara.rferl.org)

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has engendered plenty of debate in Pakistan ever since it was announced. The Pakistani media is awash with different opinions, but the most noticeable one revolves around whether the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province section of the CPEC route has been set or is it being discretely altered to suit the agendas of various political & commercial interests, as the map above seems to indicate.

The Chinese Government has made it very clear that the route has been set once & for all & the first section to be constructed is the CPEC. They also emphasise that the route does not aim to give any area any unfair advantage & has been designed to promote maximum benefit to the people of Pakistan & China. But the debate continues. Some people say that parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province section are being bypassed to give Punjab Province a piece of this highly-lucrative pie. Others counter that the route has been set in stone in one of the several dozen MoUs signed during President Xi Jinping's visit to Pakistan.

But the reality of the matter is completely different. Punjab Province is simply being unfairly accused of trying to snatch money from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The competition is actually between two districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa itself.

Abbottabad District Versus Haripur District

The real tussle, according to a thorough study of the press statements of the various parties is as follows:

The Chinese have declared that they will stick to the original route that passes through Haripur District. The very sound reasons for this choice are:

1. Agriculture

Haripur District produces the best wheat, red blood oranges & guavas in Pakistan (&, according to some experts, the world). In addition, it serves as a base market to the entire Hazara Division & supplies high quality fruit & vegetables to Peshawar, Islamabad & Punjab Province. It even exports its produce to regions as far away as the United States & the European Union.

2. Natural Resources

Haripur District has Pakistan's two most important natural reservoirs, Tarbela Dam & Khanpur Dam, both of which provide water for irrigation in Hazara Division. In addition, Tarbela supplies approximately 25% of Pakistan's electricity needs & Khanpur supplies almost 100% of the water needs of the cities of Islamabad & Rawalpindi as well as surrounding areas. Haripur District is also known to have sizeable deposits of rare earths (according to a study conducted by Peshawar University in 1973).

3. Industry

The Telephone Industry Of Pakistan (TIP), the biggest telephone factory in Asia, is located in Haripur District. Cactus Fertilizers (formerly Pak-China Fertilizers), the largest producer of phosphate fertilizer in Pakistan, is situated here, too. The Hattar Industrial Estate houses the most modern SSP Fertilizer unit (Double A Fertilizers).

4. Literacy Rates

The average literacy rate for the whole of Pakistan is 63%. Haripur District clocks in at 53.7%, which is noticeably higher than the Hazara Division literacy rate of 35.2%. This is very impressive considering that only 12% of the population of Haripur District live in urban areas & the remaining 88% live in rural areas.

5. Historical Significance

The culture of Haripur goes back at least 3,500 years to its status as the heart of the Gandhara Civilization. From there, it went on to be a very important location for Alexander The Great. Next, it became the true home (&, according to some historians, the final resting place) of Ashoka Maurya. After that, Turko-Mongol warrior king Timur made Haripur a strategic barrier to protect the Kabul-Kashmir route. Following this long tradition of importance, Haripur remained a consistently significant location all the way through the Durrani, Sikh & British dynasties. In addition, several very historically-significant Buddhist sites can be found in Haripur District.

On the other hand, a small segment of the Pakistani population is angling for a change in the route; they would like it to pass through Havelian Tehsil (a sub-division of Abbottabad District) instead. The positive points of Havelian are as follows:

1. Economy

While agriculture & business in general are the main occupations, most ordinary Havelian residents are employed by the ordnance factories & depot in the town & the majority of the remainder work for the KMW courier service, the head office of which is located in Havelian.

2. Location

Havelian is located on the Karakoram Highway & is the terminus of a branch railway.

The Financially-Challenged Areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province

Another pressing concern for some people is that the CPEC bypasses some of the poorest areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. They contend that if the CPEC were re-routed to pass through these areas, the locals would very likely strike it rich.

But what about the commerce spawned by the Indus River in ancient times, which gave rise to entire civilizations? Did anyone talk of re-routing the Indus? If the people of that time had wanted to, they certainly had the technology to do it. But they didn't. They built canals & made judicious use of the tributaries of the Indus; & they progressed every inch as well as their counterparts who lived & worked close to the Indus itself.

In the same way, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government has shown remarkable commitment & drive in the last few months alone. The re-carpeting of the road to Hattar & the renovation of the Changi Bandi Bridge are ample proof that if they put their minds to it, they can accomplish anything. If it is felt that some areas are getting neglected due to the CPEC not passing through them, build a few "tributary roads" instead.

In The Spirit Of Full Disclosure

My name is Teene Zahid. I am the first born child of Maj. (r) Zahid Qamar & Dr. Walia Waiza Agha. My father owns around 70 acres of agricultural land in Hazara Division, mostly in Haripur District. As his legal first born, I am also his second in all his financial commitments & transactions. Consequently, I would naturally be very interested & invested in any development project that targets Haripur District. However, I have taken great care to present an unbiased assessment of the CPEC debate, because I also attach great importance to my professional position as an economic & IT consultant.