CPEC detractors will be irrelevant soon: PM

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Monday urged the people of Balochistan, particularly, the youth, to avail the historic opportunity of development in the province as the detractors of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) were about to lose their relevance very soon.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the Pak-China Friendship Hospital and the Gwadar Seawater Desalination Plant here, the prime minister stressed that the CPEC would move forward and it would be prudent for all to join the path to progress.

“The CPEC journey will surely move forward, and not backward, so joining the development course will be a prudent decision. Those who think of changing the course [of CPEC] by use of force, violence or any other means are committing historic blunder. Their relevance will be over very soon,” he said.

“The prudent decision is to join the course of development, instead of resisting it and missing the opportunity," he told the ceremony attended by caretaker ministers Sami Saeed and Shahid Ashraf Tarar, Chief Minister Mir Mardan Domki, Chinese Ambassador in Pakistan Jiang Zaidong and others.

The prime minister said that trade worth $36 trillion was expected to take place in and around China in near future, therefore it was a must to join the journey through skill development and to claim the share, instead of showing hostility.

The prime minister noted that the development of China had a positive impact across the region, particularly Pakistan and its Balochistan province. Earlier, the prime minister, along with the Chinese ambassador and Balochistan chief minister unveiled the plaques to inaugurate the projects.

He said the clean drinking water had been an issue facing the Gwadar people and the desalination plant project would address it to a great extent. Besides, he added, the construction of a 150-bed hospital would provide quality healthcare to the people.

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On the occasion, Kakar assured all-out support of the federal and provincial governments on the matter of security and reiterated that the army, police and other law-enforcement agencies would safeguard the Chinese workers even at the cost of their own lives.

Later talking to reporters, Kakar expressed his confidence that Balochistan would witness a new era of development. The prime minister hoped that the financial crunch would be over with the steps taken by the interim government.

In his address to the ceremony, Chinese Ambassador Jiang congratulated the people of Balochistan over the inauguration of the desalination plant providing clean drinking water. He thanked the federal and provincial governments particularly the prime minister for their support to the projects.

Ambassador Jiang said both the projects of hospital and desalination plant would help uplift the living standard of the people of Gwadar. He hoped that the Pakistan and China would continue strengthening their cooperation to accomplish the next phase of CPEC.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2023.