THE recent statement by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in which he linked an IMF bailout for Pakistan to CPEC is wrong and inappropriate.

CPEC is a mutually consensus project between two friendly countries — China and Pakistan — and a third party has no right to spoil it. Pakistan has not sent an official request of $12 billion to IMF yet. Similarly, the caretaker government has also no mandate to do so.

The US should see CPEC in a broader perspective because this will bring political and economic stability in the region, in general, and Pakistan, in particular.

Salman Ahmed Ansari

Tando Adam

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2018