JANUARY 2016 NEWS COVERAGE PERIOD FROM JANUARY 25TH TO JANUARY 31ST 2016 PROTEST OVER ‘EXCESSES’ BY SINDH GOVT Dawn, January 31st, 2016 THATTA: Several hundred people took part in a rally organised by the Kohistan Awami Ittehad (KAI) against the Sindh government for “depriving people of their ancestral lands and rendering local employees of utilities jobless to replace them with outsiders”. Activists of various nationalist parties and groups including the Jeay Sindh Tehreek, Jeay Sindh Mahaz and Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz and its Arisar group, turned up in large numbers at Jhimpir to take part in the rally. The participants riding cars, jeeps, vans, trucks and two-wheelers drove up to Thatta via Keenjhar lake and Nooriabad and then held a sit-in outside the Thatta Press Club blocking the adjacent section of the National Highway. Holding flags of their respective parties and groups, the protesters raised slogans against the provincial government and condemned the atrocities, according to them, let loose on the people of Thatta and Sujawal districts. Speaking to the protesters, Mohammed Bukhsh Marri, Imam Bukhsh Khaksheli, Khud Dino Palari, Khalid Khaskheli, Sadiq Nazir and Abdul Karim Palari of the KAI claimed that local people recruited several years ago in the SITE area water supply scheme as well as public and private industries and multinational firms were being retrenched and replaced with ‘outsiders’. They also claimed that the ancestral lands of the people of Jhimpir were being snatched and allotted to different public sector and multinational concerns. The affected people were being paid no compensation for their lands, they claimed. http://www.dawn.com/news/1236390 NEWS COVERAGE PERIOD FROM JANUARY 18TH TO JANUARY 24TH 2016 A RARE OPPORTUNITY FOR GILGIT-BALTISTAN The Express Tribune, January 19th, 2016. Shabbir Mir Like other parts of the country, Gilgit-Baltistan has also been plagued by the ‘CPEC fever’ these days. While the project is still in its infancy and details surrounding it continue to be sorted out, it seems that the opposition parties feel duty- bound to pass a comment on it on a daily basis, painting a bleak picture for the region with respect to its share in this $46 billion project, which many say is the most ambitious foreign investment scheme ever launched by any government anywhere in the world. Besides other factors, the undefined constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan has undoubtedly played a pivotal role in adding fuel to fire. As a gateway to the project, the region will offer more than 400km of its land to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that will link Gwadar port to China’s northwestern autonomous region of Xinjiang via a vast network of highways and railways. There are no two opinions about giving Gilgit-Baltistan its due share in the project. After all, people of this region have rendered immense sacrifices to become a part of the country. Regrettably, what it has received in exchange for these sacrifices is decades-long deprivation in terms of constitutional rights, thanks to the larger issue of Kashmir. Now what do we really mean by the term ‘due share’ in the CPEC? If we go by the opposition parties’ definition, this seems to be a total shift of authority from the federal government to Gilgit-Baltistan in matters pertaining to the project. This daydreaming must be done away with. Such a wish list is found in other provinces too, especially in Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), where politicians think they are indispensable for the corridor. F or political gains, such a stance may be acceptable, but we can safely assume that such wishes are not going to see the light of day. Gilgit-Baltistan’s significance can’t be underestimated. But it is also a reality that this region can’t be made the centre of all economic activity that the project will bring, given that its hilly terrain eats up 98 per cent of its land. The mountainous region is inhabited by about 1.5 million people and therefore can’t offer the kind of investment opportunities that Sindh, Punjab and K-P can. This is understood by the politicians of Gilgit-Baltistan, but the dictates of political expediency often end up determining their behaviour. In this regard, the PPP is leading the campaign against the government. It desperately needs a platform to make a comeback from after humiliating electoral losses, and is making effective use of the CPEC by playing with popular sentiments. The party ruled Gilgit-Baltistan for five years, but could win only a single seat in the polls held under the supervision of the Pakistan Army seven months ago. The party’s Giglit-Baltistan chapter President Amjad Hussain is now trying to manoeuvre the situation and has been able to uplift the PPP’s graph in the region . The PML-N, which bagged 15 of the 24 seats in the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly, appears to be on the back foot, at least for now. This largely emanates from the federal government’s lack of interest in securing the confidence of other parties, providing the opposition with a golden opportunity to manipulate the situation. A solution to the constitutional issue facing the region is in sight for the first time in nearly seven decades, but that too appears to have been hijacked by the opposition. Referring to news reports appearing in the national media, they claim that China’s concerns over the disputed status of the region is forcing Pakistan to consider accepting Gilgit-Baltistan as its constitutional part. In reality, China has downplayed these reports and clarified its stance through its foreign ministry. Chief Minister Hafeezur Rahman has repeatedly assured that two economic zones will be set up in the region and that land for one zone has been identified in Gilgit. But this has failed to pacify the opposition as it is insisting that the claim of the chief minister is not reflected anywhere in the project and that the region lacks representation at the CPEC table. Rahman is accused of “compromising the region’s interest”. This grey area is where the federal government and Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Ashan Iqbal need to focus on to remove suspicions. The people must be told which projects under the CPEC will be offered to Gilgit-Baltistan. Will these projects comprise roads, railway networks or fibre optic cables? The CPEC offers a rare chance to all stakeholders to work for national integrity, which will help eliminate regional biases and sectarian inclinations. This opportunity must not be lost. The federal government and the opposition parties must realise this before it is too late. http://tribune.com.pk/story/1029953/a-rare-oppurtunity-for-gilgit-baltistan/ GOVT STARTS ACQUIRING LAND FOR RS32B ‘DISNEYLAND’ THEME PARK The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2016. LAHORE: The government has started the land acquisition process for the proposed Disneyland-like theme park in Lahore. A Chinese company will build the facility at an estimated cost of Rs32 billion. “The government has started the process to acquire 650 acres under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894,” Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) Director General Shakeel Ahmad told The Express Tribune. Once the preliminary investigation – required under the law – is completed, the district collector will carry out assessment of properties to be acquired. “The government wants to acquire land at the earliest. To avoid any litigation and delay, it has chosen a site where land is mostly owned by the state,” Ahmad said. He said that after fulfilling all legal obligations, the government would ask the investors to start developing the facility. He said the Chinese company, Golden Bean, would build the park and an aquarium near Kala Shah Kaku along the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway (M-2). “The mega project will take nearly two years to complete. The provincial government and the PHA are facilitating the project,” Ahmad said. The Chinese company will build the park from its own resources. Earlier, Commissioner Abdullah Khan Sumbal said that the provincial government had guaranteed uninterrupted electricity supply through special feeders for the project. The government will also construct a road leading to the park. The commissioner said the theme park would have a rollercoaster, a five-star hotel, an aquarium and business and shopping centres. He said the Chinese investors had expressed their willingness to develop the park at a recent seminar on Investment Opportunities in the Punjab. Golden Bean has built the Fantasy Amusement Park in Changchun, China. The park has a single ring double spiral rollercoaster, an 88-metre Ferris wheel, a large pendulum for 42 people, boat surfing and a rapid windmill. http://tribune.com.pk/story/1031943/entertainment-facilities-govt-starts-acquiring-land-for-rs32b-theme-park/ PACT SIGNED FOR GWADAR PORT CITY MASTER PLAN FEASIBILITY STUDY Dawn, January 23rd, 2016 ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China on Friday signed a letter of exchange for the feasibility study of Gwadar Port City Master Plan Project costing Rs410 million under a government-to-government arrangement. Economic Affairs Division Secretary Tariq Bajwa and Ambassador of China to Pakistan signed the letter of exchange on behalf of their respective governments. China agreed to finance the project under grant assistance and subsequently a meeting was held in Beijing on Aug 25 between Chinese ministry of commerce and the government of Pakistan to discuss Gwadar Smart Port City Master Plan Project. Accordingly, the implementation mode, objectives and scope, time-frame arrangement of the project were discussed and the minutes of the meeting duly concurred by the ministry of planning, development and reforms were signed by ministry of commerce and EAD on Nov 24, 2015.