The Gwadar saga stretches back even further.
Pakistan had zeroed in on Gwadar to build a mega seaport in 1964, six years after acquiring it from Oman. The port would have the potential to accommodate super tankers and mother ships. And, that would be vital to attract the transit trade of central Asian nations. Moreover, it would allow Pakistan to keep an eye on the entire traffic to and from the crucial Persian Gulf.
But, work on the port began only in 2001. While the construction is almost complete, various associated projects are still in phases of development, including connectivity by road, rail and an airport. In 2013, the China Overseas Port Holding Company took over the leasing rights of the port and consequently Gwadar became a lynchpin in the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Gwadar takes away the maritime advantage India enjoys over China in the Indian Ocean and embeds China in the northern Arabian Sea, thereby threatening India’s maritime security. Also, it adds to Chinese and Pakistani capability to threaten India’s energy security.
THE WEEK spoke to Captain Bansal on Gwadar. Edited excerpts:
Q Why do you call Gwadar a Chinese Gibraltar?
A Gibraltar controls access to the Mediterranean. This has been a British possession on the southern coast of Spain, another country. But Britain, by its presence in Gibraltar, controls any entry or exit from the Mediterranean towards the Atlantic. Similarly, and to some extent even more, because Gwadar is at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, China can control any traffic that is entering or exiting the Persian Gulf. Here we also need to understand that unlike the Mediterranean, which is open at both ends, the Persian Gulf can only be exited from one point—the Strait of Hormuz—and Gwadar is just outside the strait. So any maritime position there can monitor every vessel that is leaving or entering the Persian Gulf.
Denne historien er fra September 01, 2024-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra September 01, 2024-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Chase For The Mace
The next three years throw up a gamut of challenges for Indian cricket; winning the World Test Championship is the most important
Two-horse race
Can the NC-Congress alliance reshape the future of Jammu and Kashmir?
Man-eaters don't spare women
Critics say Narendra Modi’s decade-long rule has been one of jobless growth. Factories produced more, companies earned more, owners profited more, the government earned more; but fewer hands were hired, or those who were hired got work for fewer days. Putting the last two together, economists said the Indian economy generated fewer ‘man-days’.
Decolonising the mindset
The vision of a Viksit Bharat hinges on India T breaking from the shackles of a colonial mindset and embodying the freedom of being unapologetically Indian. The laws of any nation are the cornerstone of its growth. The legal system offers the stability and adaptability essential for a country to thrive. The laws must be simple to understand and specific in their consequence.
The making of India's Mr Difficult Words
When my publishers at Aleph invited me to put together a book on words and language, I hesitated for a brief moment.
Couture's creepy corridors
If one is spending a summer in New York, any summer in New York, an absolute must-do is to spend an afternoon at the city’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, on the edge of Central Park, just gawking in gobsmacked awe at the annual fashion exhibition the museum’s Costume Institute puts together.
Stree 2 has given us hope
The unprecedented success of Stree 2 is the best news we have had in the recent times and with an unabashedly feminist agenda, has comprehensively out-performed Sandeep Reddy Vanga's toxic masculine star-studded Animal at the box office is (to me, at least) kind of the cinematic equivalent of Awadhesh Prasad winning Ayodhya-it redeems my faith in the inherent decency of Indians.
BRANDS BEYOND RAMPS
Whether through carpets, fragrances or home interiors, Indian couturiers are defying their own limits
RESERVOIR OF WORRIES
India has a robust dam management systém on paper, but inadequate maintenance and climate change pose serious threats
INTER-STATE ISSUES HAVE NO EFFECT ON DAM SAFETY
INTERVIEW: KUSHVINDER VOHRA INTERVIEW Chairman, Central Water Commission
