Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in his press conference on November 13 revealed that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was directly running a terrorist cell against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Details of the cell and its activities were provided in the dossier titled, “Indian Efforts to Destabilize Pakistan” shared with P-5 countries and the UN. But what does that mean?
According to the Foreign Office dossier, “Indian Efforts to destabilize Pakistan,” Indian PM Narendra Modi is himself supervising a special cell to target CPEC. This cell was set up in the headquarters of Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s external intelligence agency in 2015. This cell was created with an initial investment of US $ 500 million (around Rs 80 billion), it is tasked to undertake all steps including terrorists’ actions (violent acts) to sabotage, undermine and delay the CPEC projects and to create a hostile negative environment around the whole concept of CPEC and BRI of which CPEC is an integral part.
The impression that Indian PM is himself supervising the cell flows from the fact that RAW, being India’s principal tool for regional influence, reports directly to the prime minister through its Secretary (R). As another detailed piece on RAW, in this publication, will explain that RAWs budgets are unlimited and it is not accountable to the Indian parliament.
This also underscores the importance CPEC – which is principally an economic and commercial initiative to help the Pakistani economy – occupies in the strategic calculus of Indian policymakers. It means that Pakistan’s economic prosperity and stability is not acceptable in the Indian strategic framework for the region. Foreign Office dossier added that the cell is involved in activities against CPEC through the use of proxy warriors and information attacks.
Initially, the cell was allocated a sum of $500 million (PKR 80 billion) to fund terror against CPEC. Other parts of the dossier inform that India has also raised a force of 700 field operatives dedicated to targeting CPEC and other projects in Balochistan. Funds of US $ 60 million have been spent in organizing this force that is supervised by a 24-member commission that has 10 senior RAW officers. It looks highly likely that this 700-member force is being directed by the CPEC Cell.
We also know, from the figures given in the dossier, that of the Rs. 22 billion (of the amounts that have been tracked) that have been spent by RAW on various terror outfits, more than Rs. 18 billion were spent on Baloch insurgents. Almost 30 CPEC related – small and big projects – are progressing in Balochistan including the most important Gawadar port and its related infrastructure. Gawadar’s coastal highway has been the scene of several terror attacks by Baloch sub nationalists.
PC Hotel in Gwadar was attacked by terrorists related to BLA and BLF on 11 May 2019. The investigations so far have revealed that the attack was planned by RAW Officer Anurag Singh with $ 0.5 million at his disposal. Dr. Allah Nazar (DAN) and Aslam Achoo were the masterminds behind this attack, both of whom have traveled to India on fake Afghan Passports. Supporting evidence in the dossier includes a copy of Aslam Achoo’s passport having double entry stamped by India. Dr. Allah Nazar also traveled to India on fake documents under the name of Haji Nabi.
At least 17 audio clips (held with ISPR) of him conversing with RAW handlers make his connection to India an undeniable fact. RAW also invests heavily into shaping a world-wide narrative of a Baloch freedom struggle – for instance, the 2019 Netflix season, Bard of Blood.
This is to provide a populist cover to its CPEC related terrorism so that an argument can be built that disgruntled Baloch people see Chinese developments as imperialism and the whole thing looks organic. Foreign Office dossier highlights that there has been a steep rise in the terror attacks in Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan since CPEC was officially announced in 2014.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, during the Nov 13 press conference also said in the context of Indian actions under BJP: “The journey that began with secularism has now morphed into fascism. It is clear for the whole world to see.
