February 7, 2018
Pakistan warns: India plans attack on China-Pakistan
Economic Corridor installations in Gilgit
By Abdus-Sattar Ghazali
Pakistan's Federal Ministry of Interior says that India has made a plan to attack the installations of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Gilgit-Baltistan, in a bid to sabotage the multi-billion mega project, the daily Dawn reported Monday (Feb. 5).
The ministry has issued directives for making foolproof security arrange ments to avoid any untoward incident.
An official of the Gilgit-Baltistan home department told the daily Dawn that the department had received a letter from the federal interior ministry recently in which it had warned of possible terrorist attacks on the CPEC route.
The letter said that India had sent 400 Muslim youngsters to Afghanistan for receiving training to be able to carry out attacks on the CEPC installations, including bridges at Karakoram Highway (KKH) and other important points on the CPEC route.
After receiving the interior ministry's directives, the Gilgit-Baltistan government has enhanced security on the CPEC route, including two dozen bridges built on KKH from Khunjerab Pass to Diamer district.
In January last year, the Gilgit-Baltistan police had claimed to have foiled a plan allegedly sponsored by Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to sabotage projects related to CPEC and generate anti-Pakistan feelings in Gilgit-Baltistan.
The Gilgit-Baltistan police had arrested 12 workers of the Balawaristan National Front from Yasin Valley of Ghizer district and seized a large quantity of weapons during a raid. The police informed media that the arrested suspects had received funds from RAW and prepared a plan to sabotage the CPEC project and stir unrest in Gilgit-Baltistan.
The CPEC links China's Kashgar in Xinjiang province with Pakistan's Gwadar port in Balochistan through a network of roads, railways and highways.
The project, a key artery of Beijing's mega Belt and Road initiative, has caused much friction between India and China over the past few years.
India also objects to the route of the corridor, which goes through Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Volatile Line of Control
The warning of Indian attack on targets in Gilgit-Baltistan came amid escalation along the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir region.
In the latest escalation Four Indian soldiers, including an officer, have been killed in Indian-administered Kashmir.
An India official told Al Jazeera that four troops were killed and one wounded after the Pakistani army opened fire on Indian posts in the Jammu region on Sunday evening.
Indian Vice chief Lt Gen Sarath Chand said the Army has been responding appropriately to Pakistan shelling, asserting that India will continue to give a "befitting reply" to such acts.
Hostilities between India and Pakistan have increased on the de facto border since last month.
More than a dozen people, including six civilians, were killed in January with deadly clashes between the two countries continuing for three days.
Despite a 2003 ceasefire, India and Pakistan regularly trade fire across the so-called Line of Control (LoC), the demarcation between the Indian and Pakistani controlled parts of Kashmir.
Since independence in 1947, the two nuclear-armed neighbors have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir.
97 people killed in three years
As many as 97 people, including 41 civilians, were killed and 383 others injured in 834 ceasefire violations by the Pakistani troops in the last three years, the government of the Indian-administered Kashmir said on Monday (Feb. 5).
Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said that 379 ceasefire violations took place along the LoC and the International Border (IB) last year, while 233 violations took place in 2016 and 222 in 2015.
Mufti said that out of the 41 civilians killed in the last three years, 12 were killed in 2017, 13 in 2016 and 16 in 2015. The chief minister said that 31 security forces personnel were killed in 2017, 16 in 2016 and 9 in 2015, out of a total of 56 killed in last three years.
The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
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