NEW DELHI: China is aiming to use Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) to counter jihadi organisations such as the Taliban, Al Qaeda and Baloch rebels who are against Beijing’s flagship China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This is a major reason why China is opposed to the UN banning JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar and terming him a global terrorist.
The other reasons include preventing its all-weather ally Pakistan from being dubbed a terror-sponsoring state by the international community.
China has invested significantly in the Gwadar port, besides CPEC, and wants to make Islamabad a client state to further its strategic depth in the region, sources in security agencies said.
Pakistani forces are engaged in ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Balochistan, and backing from China will come in handy to counter allegations of human rights violations by the international community.
Thousands of Balochs are reported to be missing and killed by Pakistani forces regularly under the guise of counter-terror operations. In addition, China pays the Pakistan Army to secure its interests in CPEC; the funds are cornered by top Pakistani generals, the sources said.
By backing Azhar, Beijing wants to gain a foothold in Afghanistan and play a larger strategic role by challenging the hegemony of the US-led coalition forces in the jihad-torn nation to bring stability and strengthen the democratic regime in Kabul. India is engaged in a major reconstruction exercise in Afghanistan and has invested over US$ 2 billion in development initiatives.
Despite being a US ally in the counter-terror initiative, Pakistan wants to revive the Taliban and backs the Haqqani network to foment trouble in Afghanistan.]
China is indirectly patronising Pakistan to continue with its state-sponsored terrorism in India and Afghanistan and is extracting cooperation from Islamabad in countering jihadi groups opposed to CPEC or those backing insurgent groups in the restive Xinjiang province dominated by Uyghur Muslims.
In what clearly outlines Beijing’s designs in Kabul, China, Russia and Pakistan held a trilateral meet in December in Moscow for stability in Afghanistan.
A joint statement identified the Islamic State as the threat to stability in Afghanistan instead of the Taliban and Haqqani network backed by Pakistan, which are the root cause of terror in that country. Till 2016, Beijing had twice blocked India’s efforts to put Azhar in the UN blocklist. The UN has already banned JeM. Earlier this year, China also stalled the proposal to ban Azhar at the UN, which was taken up by the US and backed by P5 members the UK and France. Azhar has been instrumental in perpetrating a number of terror attacks in India, including at the Pathankot airbase last year.
OMINOUS PATH
■ China wants to use Pak-based terror group JeM to counter jihadi organisations who are against its
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
■ This is why China is opposed to the UN banning JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar and terming him a global terrorist
■ By backing Azhar, Beijing wants to gain a foothold in Afghanistan
■ China is indirectly patronising Pakistan to continue its state-sponsored terrorism in India and Afghanistan