Pakistan approves USD 1.5 billion deal with China in PoK to set up hydropower project

In yet another deal with China, Imran Khan-led Pakistan on Monday signed USD 1.5 billion agreement for a hydropower project with a Chinese company, in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) under Xi Jinping regime's ambitious CPEC project.

The agreement with China Gezhouba for "Azad Pattan Hydropower Project" was signed on Monday with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan present at the location. The project is located in Sadhanoti district of PoK on Jhelum river and is expected to be completed in 2026.

"A part of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), with an investment of USD 1.5 Billion, 700.7 MW Azad Pattan will involve no fuel import, thus enabling the country to move towards cheaper & greener power while generating local job opportunities,” according to an official statement issued by the Pakistan government.

Even as Chinese investments in Pakistan has put the country under China's burden, Imran Khan asserted that the project was an investment and would not be a burden on the country. “We have learned a lot from the development of China, and the CPEC project will take Pakistan to the very top,” he said.

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The CPEC, which connects Gwadar Port in Balochistan with China's Xinjiang province, is the flagship project of Chinese President Xi Jinping's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). 

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India's stand on PoK

India has protested to China over the CPEC as it is being laid through PoK. The Ministry of External Affairs early this year said that Pakistan was told that entire Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are an integral part of India and that Islamabad should immediately vacate the areas under its illegal occupation.

Pakistan has illegally occupied PoK after the incursion in 1947. In a thunderous declaration, while moving a resolution last year for revoking Article 370 that stripped J&K of its special rights and divided the state into two Union Territories, Home Minister Amit Shah asserted that Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Aksai Chin are part of India and said: "we are ready to give our lives for it". Subsequently, foreign minister S Jaishankar said that India will soon have jurisdiction over the territory. Moreover, Army chief General MM Naravane said that Indian Army is ready to reclaim PoK if Centre orders.

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Pak foreign minister raises Kashmir issue, again

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi held a telephonic conversation with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, just a day after PM Modi visited Leh. Moreover, Imran Khan called for an emergency meeting with top security personnel and reviewed "internal and external security situation & expressed the resolve that sovereignty of the country would be protected at all costs." 

Alleging that India is imperiling peace in the region, Qureshi, during his telephonic conversation with Wang, underscored that the regional security situation was deteriorating. “In the face of Indian provocations, Pakistan was exercising restraint,” he said. He also accused India of committing ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC). Moreover, blatantly interfering with India's internal matter, Quereshi also raised J&K's new domicile laws in his discussion with Wang Yi. 

(with PTI inputs)

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