Selig Harrison loses no opportunity to show that Pakistan’s disintegration is only around the corner and to prove that Sino-Pakistan relations threaten US interests.

Among those who lay claim to scholarship, yet instead of being objective in their analysis they openly promote bias, readily lend their pen to support vested interests and put their ‘scholarly stamp of approval’ on false propaganda to lend credibility, Mr. Selig Harrison immediately comes to mind.

At times in league with the Indian propagandists, and finding a willing partner in New York Times where his articles generally find space – he engages in smear campaign against Pakistan. In this, his ability of crystal ball gazing comes handy too.

Selig Harrison, self-styled "expert" on Balochistan, darling of Washington & India has extensive ties with CIA.

In 2006, Mr. Harrison, who styles himself as a specialist on Balochistan, saw in his crystal ball the success of Baloch insurgency movements which he reported in his articles in the New York Times and the French newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique. He predicted that the world would soon see a Free Balochistan, an entity that would also include the Iranian Balochistan & Sistan province. Promoting a Pentagon dream authored by a retired Col. Ralph Peter in his treatise ‘Blood Borders’, Mr. Harrison also predicted that Sindhis will join hands with the Balochis.

Gilgit Baltistan

While he awaits that dream to come true, Mr. Harrison chose this time to adopt the script of the Indian propagandists about Pakistan’s Northern Areas, now called Gilgit Baltistan. If in the process he made some gross misstatements, it is another matter. In his piece in the New York Times of August 26, captioned 'China's Discreet Hold on Pakistan's Northern Borderlands’, Mr. Harrison claimed that: “A quiet geopolitical crisis is unfolding in the Himalayan borderlands of northern Pakistan, where Islamabad is handing over de facto control of the strategic Gilgit-Baltistan region in the northwest corner of disputed Kashmir to China”. He went on to state that the Chinese had deployed 7,000-11,000 troops in the area.

During his crystal ball gazing, Mr. Harrison rightly saw some Chinese faces in the Gilgit Baltistan region. But he made two errors: he counted their numbers wrong and he mistook the coveralls of the Chinese workers for military uniforms. They were neither 7,000 to 11,000 in number nor were they troops of the People’s Liberation Army. In fact, they were either humanitarian team members sent by the Chinese Government at Pakistan’s request to help in rescue and relief work for 25,000 people stranded after recent heavy floods and landslides, or they were construction workers engaged in the repair of Karakoram Highway and undertaking communication infrastructure projects along with Pakistani counterparts, under government to government arrangement.

'Figment of imagination' and 'Ulterior Motives'

Unfortunately, Mr. Harrison did not stop at that. He went on to declare:

“The entire Pakistan-occupied western portion of Kashmir stretching from Gilgit in the north to Azad (Free) Kashmir in the south is closed to the world, in contrast to the media access that India permits in the eastern part, where it is combating a Pakistan-backed insurgency.”

Mr. Harrison was partially right. The area of Hunza Valley has indeed been closed, but for a different reason. Early January this year the Karakorum Highway to China had to be closed (except for travel by small boat) due to a massive landslide15 km upstream from Hunza's capital of Karimabad that created the unstable Attabad Lake which reached 22 km in length and over 100 meters in depth by the first week of June. The lake displaced thousands and inundated over 20 km of the Pak-China highway, including a 310 meter long road bridge. The lake finally flowed over the landslide dam, but not before washing away several segments of the highway, small bridges and culverts and this is expected to take about two years to repair. The Chinese and Pakistanis are now engaged in repairs.

Only if Mr. Harrison had done some fact checking before dashing his story off to NYT, he would have been saved of the embarrassment.

Pakistan’s foreign office was more direct in dismissing Mr. Harrison’s story as a "figment of imagination". Its spokesman said,

"Given Selig Harrison's well-known anti-Pakistan mindset, his gross misrepresentation of facts is hardly surprising. Nor is it unexpected of India to create unnecessary hype using Mr. Harrison's tendentious article. ……. China, at our request, is helping us in repairing the Karakoram highway, which has been severely damaged by the recent floods and landslides. Anything beyond this is one's figment of imagination."

China’s Foreign Ministry also called the story "groundless", saying it was being put out with "ulterior motives" to hurt Beijing's ties with New Delhi and Islamabad.

After Mr. Harrison’s assertions have been doubly dismissed as ‘figment of imagination’ by the Pakistanis and ‘ulterior motives’ by the Chinese, there is no need to dwell further on his accusation that Pakistan denies access to its side of Gilgit Baltistan and Kashmir to outsiders and to the media. But since Mr. Harrison has raised the issue, it would be appropriate to set the record straight by pointing out that Pakistan does not forbid foreigners or members of the international media from traveling to Gilgit Baltistan or Pakistani side of Kashmir. Instead of passing judgments from his perch in the US, let Mr. Harrison come down to see things for himself. I would be happy to accompany him to these areas, should he undertake the journey.

Of insurgencies, resistance and 'simmering rebellion'

But the same cannot be claimed by the administration of the Indian occupied Kashmir, which has gross human rights violations to hide. And let Mr. Harrison be under no illusion that the insurgency that rocks Indian Kashmir is truly indigenous and not Pakistan backed. This is recognized by the state government of Occupied Kashmir, the international media, the international community and human rights organizations. Ordinary men, women and children die not at Pakistan’s behest. They die for their love of freedom.

In his article, Mr. Harrison makes yet another interesting revelation. Citing “reports from a variety of foreign intelligence sources, Pakistani journalists and Pakistani human rights workers” not one of whom he chooses to disclose, he talks of “a simmering rebellion against Pakistani rule” in Gilgit Baltistan. He is clearly advancing the Indian theme that he has been fed on – probably about the one-man led separatist movement called “Bilawaristan” that not even the people of the region know about. He intelligently chooses to call it a ‘simmering rebellion’ because it cannot be seen on the surface, intriguingly not even by the people among whom it is supposed to simmer, and is only visible to the Indians or Mr. Harrison. Several people from Gilgit and Baltistan whom I spoke on this issue were left nonplussed.

Kashmiris on Pakistan’s side do not have a complaint about their self rule in their autonomous state, as Mr. Harrison suggests. Not only have they have been demanding that their brethren on the Indian side be allowed to unite with them, the Indo-Pakistan dialogue has more or less centered on freedom for Kashmiris on the Indian side where a bloody freedom struggle is underway. In case of reservations about their own destiny, Kashmiris on Pakistan side would have been clamoring to join the Kashmiris under Indian control instead.

Perhaps it is time for Mr. Harrison to brush up his knowledge about the region a little bit. Located in the north of Pakistan, Northern Areas (or Gilgit Baltistan as it is now called) borders Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to the west, Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor to the north, Xinjiang region of China to the northeast, Pakistan held Azad Kashmir to the south and Indian Occupied Kashmir to the southeast. With an estimated population of over a million, the Northern Areas are nestled in some of the world's highest mountain ranges namely, the Karakoram, the western Himalayas, the Pamirs and the Hindu Kush.

Northern Areas were never officially treated part of Kashmir that is under Pakistan’s control. Ever since the Muslim population of this remote mountainous region liberated itself from the controversial Dogra ruler of Jammu & Kashmir through an indigenous revolt in November 1947 and opted to cede to Pakistan, it had been insisting that it should be treated as a separate entity and not as part of the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir. These people argued that they were ethnically and linguistically different from the Kashmiris and historically their region was never part of Jammu and Kashmir, except for a short time when the Sikh ruler of Kashmir annexed it against their will. The area was later taken over and ruled directly by the British but was annexed again by the Dogra ruler in early 1947 against the advice of Mahatma Gandhi who on August 2, 1947, called for Gilgit to be awarded autonomy and allowed to govern itself in order to preserve its traditional ways. The people, therefore, could not be faulted for their demand for an autonomous province of Pakistan.

But the Pakistan Government desisted from heeding the demand for provincial status for the Northern Areas owing to a concern that it would justify future attempts by India to absorb two-thirds of Jammu and Kashmir. Since India showed no intentions of settling the Kashmir dispute and the people of Northern areas were anxious to go on with their lives, Pakistan responded by promulgating the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order 2009 in August 2009 that granted self-rule to its people by creating, among other things, a new province called Gilgit Baltistan with a 33-member elected legislative assembly. "You are getting your identity today. It is your right and has been your demand, and today we are fulfilling it", said Pakistan’s prime minister to the people.

Pakistan government also unveiled a multi-billion rupee development package aimed at socio-economic uplift of the people in the areas of education, health, agriculture, tourism and the basic needs of life. Recent elections have installed the assembly and a political government and the people rejoice in the recognition of their political identity. But nowhere can the discontent or the rebellion be seen that Mr. Harrison is talking about.

The autonomy package has obviously angered India, drawing its criticism. India claims this area to be also its integral part along with the rest of Jammu & Kashmir. Pakistan promptly rejected Indian criticism. It is this Indian sentiment that is reflected in Mr. Harrison’s story.

The region has proved pivotal in providing a solid foundation for Pakistan's friendship with China and has borne rich mutual dividends. But India has always looked with suspicion at the deep ties of friendship and cooperation between them owing to its own strained relations with both countries. Not only have China and Pakistan proven to be good neighbors and all-weather friends, they have forged a stable, strategic partnership that serves their common interests and is conducive to peace and prosperity in the region. China has always stood by Pakistan in every crisis and has, as a trusted ally, an abiding interest in Pakistan’s security.

Over the past five decades, China has helped Pakistan in several large projects vital for Pakistan’s economic development, notable among which are nuclear power plants, Karakorum Highway and the landmark Gawadar Port in southern Balochistan. Sino-Pak economic, trade and technological cooperation continues to expand.

The ancient Silk Road between Gilgit-Baltistan and Xinjiang.

To improve land transportation between the two countries and promote centuries old border trade through the ancient Silk Road between Gilgit Baltistan and Xinjiang, the two countries jointly constructed the most difficult all-weather 808 miles long highway connecting Kashgar in Xinjiang province of China to Islamabad, passing through Khunjerab Pass at an altitude of 4,693 meters (15,397 feet). Called Karakorum Highway, or KKH, it is known to be the highest paved international border and as an incredible feat of engineering it is recognized as the "Ninth Wonder of the World". The highway was chiseled out of a treacherous terrain of the Karakorum Mountains. The graves and memorials constructed along the road in the memory of 810 Pakistani and 82 Chinese workers who laid their lives during the 20-year construction period, speaks volumes of this lasting symbol of Pak-China friendship. It has opened up the traditionally landlocked Gilgit Baltistan region to trade and development.

The Karakorum Highway from China runs through Gilgit in the North to Azad Kashmir in the south. Also known as the Friendship Highway in China, it was built by the governments of Pakistan and China, and was completed in 1986, after 20 years of construction. 810 Pakistani and 82 Chinese workers lost their lives, mostly in landslides and falls, while building the highway. The route of the KKH traces one of the many paths of the ancient Silk Road. On the Pakistani side, the road was constructed by FWO (Frontier Works Organization), employing the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers.

Upgrading of 600 kilometers of KKH to make it suitable for heavy container traffic and linking it to Gawadar Port is now underway with the Chinese help. China and Pakistan are also working to link Gawadar port and Xinjiang through the new Chinese-aided railway network. This will, on the one hand, turn Gawadar Port and KKH into a trade corridor for China and other Central Asians states and also create in Gawadar an energy transport and industrial hub providing direct and economical access to Arabian Sea for both China and resource rich Central Asian states. On the other hand, this will generate billions of dollars in revenues for Pakistan and likely create about two million jobs.

Pakistan and China have also recently signed agreements to help energy starved Pakistan to utilize the hydel potential offered by the area by constructing Diamer-Bhasha and Bunji dams. China also has an interest in importing gas from Iran by joining the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline that will also pass through Gilgit Baltistan.

Gawader is the world's largest deep sea port. “Gwa” means Air and “Dar” means door, and the word Gawadar means “The door of the wind” is the world’s largest deep sea port lies in southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan. The design and construction of the port is carried out in collaboration with China. It has an immense geostrategic importance as it is the entrance to the Persian Gulf and is considered to be a substitute of Dubai Port.

Pakistan Railways linked to Trans Railway Network (TARN). Fibre-optic line, oil & gas pipeline rail track linking Karakorum Highway to Gawadar. A six-member committee comprising equal number of experts from both China and Pakistan has been constituted to move forward with the project. China has already prepared a feasibility report of laying a railway track in the difficult terrain of Karakoram linking both the states through Khunjarab Pass.

The repairs and expansion of KKH, the new rail link, the hydel projects, the gas pipeline and the industrial projects that will take years to complete should explain the need for long-life accommodation for Chinese workers, as well as the 22 tunnels in Gilgit Baltistan region, which Mr. Harrison is so concerned about and which he fears could be used for missile storage. Given Mr. Harrison’s claim about geopolitical expertise, one would like to know from him who would choose to store missiles, and why, in this difficult mountainous terrain, so far removed from the point of usage, particularly when the area is prone to frequent and massive landslides and road blockages? Why will China come all the way south to another country or Pakistan go north to such remote location to store critical weapon systems from where their timely and urgent retrieval cannot be guaranteed?

In the backdrop of the wide ranging and publicized cooperation between China and Pakistan, the presence of Chinese workers in Gilgit Baltistan and Balochistan should not be surprising to the Indians. But because they abhor Sino-Pak collaboration and must prove complicity of both countries in endangering Indian security, as if in tandem with NYT article, India lost no time in declaring its readiness “to face the Chinese threat”. Hindustan Times, in a story dated August 29, quotes military sources as saying that in view of Chinese having escalated their aggressive designs on the country’s border areas, “The Army has activated its airfields along the Line of Actual Control and enhanced its military presence and capabilities in the area. The roads to these airfields have been upgraded.” Upgraded? Really? In just 3 days following Mr. Harrison’s story? Efficient indeed!

In an environment of rocky Pakistan-US relationship, Mr. Harrison did not miss the opportunity to add fuel to the fire. He has opined that coupled with its support for the Taliban, Islamabad’s collusion in facilitating China’s access to the Gulf makes clear that Pakistan is not a U.S. “ally”. Interesting conclusion! Perhaps in Mr. Harrison’s political jargon an ‘ally’ is supposed to mean a ‘vassal’. He forgets that by being an ally of the US, Pakistan has neither surrendered its freedom, nor has it forfeited its right to pursue its national interests. It has the same right to maintain relations with other powers as the US has in choosing to strengthen its relations with India, despite Pakistan’s concerns about the latter posing a threat to Pakistan’s security.

And despite being an ally of the US, which is a seasonal relationship at best, why should Pakistan not leverage its Arabian Sea port by providing shipping and transit facilities to the Chinese or the Central Asian countries and attain long term economic benefits that will assure self reliance and freedom from poverty? The West and this includes the US, neither share Pakistan’s geography nor its values. Why should Pakistan ever think of abandoning its old and trusted Chinese friends?

Who is Mr. Harrison trying to fool?

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Axis of Logic Columnist, Shahid R. Siddiqi