GWADAR: Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif has said that hostile intelligence agencies, especially the Indian spy agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), are trying to destabilise Pakistan after many countries of the world have appreciated the true potential of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

He was addressing a seminar held in connection with the CPEC in the port town of Gwadar on Tuesday.

The COAS said: “Now, zooming out to the global and regional level, we have seen a wide appreciation by many world powers of the true potential of the CPEC project as a catalyst of economic transformation of the entire region.”

He added, however, that at the same time, the CPEC had also raised the eyebrows of those competing for influence in the region.

He said that in this context he must highlight that India has openly challenged this development initiative. “We all know that hostile intelligence agencies are averse to this grand project. Here, I would like to make a special reference to Indian intelligence agency, RAW, which is blatantly involved in attempts aimed at destabilising Pakistan,” General Sharif said. He stressed, however, that they would not allow anyone to create impediments and disorder in any part of the country. He added that it was important for everyone to leave behind confrontations and focus on cooperation.

He said that since the onset of CPEC, Balochistan has seen unprecedented development of communication infrastructure. “We mobilised army engineers for construction and army and Frontier Corps units for security of the projects,” he said.

Referring to Gwadar, he said that with the port city as the pivot, the dividends of CPEC would be reaped not just by Balochistan but shall spread across the entire rim of the Indian Ocean.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2016