Pakistani man wrongly arrested for Berlin attack fears for family

Naveed Baloch, a Pakistani who was wrongly arrested for the Berlin truck attack on Friday said, he had told German police he could not even drive and was now afraid for the safety of his family back home. Baloch, an asylum seeker from the troubled province of Balochistan, told the Guardian newspaper he had just left a friend's house and was crossing a street when he saw a police car approaching fast and picked up his pace. He said he was arrested and taken to a police station, where he was undressed and photographed. "When I resisted, they started slapping me," the 24-year-old, who has been living in a secret location provided by police since his release because he says he is afraid for his life, told the British daily. Baloch, who sought refuge in Germany as a member of a secular separatist movement in Balochistan, said he struggled to communicate because no translator could be found who could speak his native Balochi. "I calmly told them I cannot drive at all. Neither can I even start a vehicle," he said. Baloch was arrested on December 19 in the hours after the attack on a Christmas market in the heart of Berlin in which 12 people were killed. Police released Baloch 24 hours later, after failing to find evidence of his involvement. They instead identified rejected Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri as the prime suspect. Amri was shot dead by Italian police on December 23 after fleeing a manhunt in Germany. Baloch, a shepherd by profession, said members of his family in the village of Mand in Balochistan in southwest Pakistan had received threatening phone calls following his arrest. "Now they all know I fled to Germany, fearful of my life, and that I am claiming asylum here. It leaves my family very vulnerable and there's nothing I can do to protect them," he told the Guardian. Baloch said he left Pakistan around a year ago, arriving in Germany via Iran, Turkey and Greece, because of death threats he had received for his activism for the Baloch National Movement.

"Most of the people I worked with have been arrested and killed. I knew it was a matter of time before they came for me. That's the reason I came to Germany," he said.

Mineral-rich Balochistan province has been plagued for decades by a separatist insurgency and sectarian killings.

Chinese to outnumber Baloch natives by 2048

Given the current rate of influx of Chinese nationals into Balochistan and after the completion of the CPEC the native population of the area will be outnumbered by 2048. To address the concern of the Baloch citizens regarding marginalisation, the government should provide a sense of security to the natives by including them in the legislative process, and by providing them with technical and vocational training to ensure their share in the economic sphere, recommended a report launched by the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI). The report was launched by FPCCI President Rauf Alam at a press conference here on Wednesday. Alam said the government could not separate the representations of the private sector and the main stakeholder of the economy from formulation of a policy regarding the CPEC. He said the FPCCI had constituted an advisory committee on the CPEC, which prepared a comprehensive report. Alam said the advisory committee on the CPEC had categorised all the ambiguities and controversial argument in six statements. Dr Ayoub, head of research of the FPCCI, also gave a presentation to the media about the report on the CPEC prepared by the advisory committee on the CPEC. As per the report the most important apprehension of the people of Balochistan relates to change in demography. Gwadar is the ultimate destination of the CPEC while Balochistan is the least-populated province of Pakistan with rich natural resources. These characteristics attract the people to settle in Baluchistan, while the CPEC will facilitate the people to travel and settle in the province. It is quite obvious that ethnic patterns of population distribution will be affected by the inflow of people from China and other parts of Pakistan, the report said.  The report said conservatively 0.44 persons per thousand migrate from china because of economic reasons that corroborates the inflow of more than 600,000 people per year in Pakistan after operating the CPEC.

At present Balochis are 55 per cent of the total population of Balochistan. The current growth rate of Balochistan’s population is 2.36 per cent. This growth in population is the composition of crude birth rate, death rate and migration of the people in Balochistan from other provinces of Pakistan. The stimulation results based on the existing rate of migration from China at 0.44 persons per thousand and rate of population growth at 0.43 per cent, we may predict that the share of Chinese in Balochistan’s population is destined to increase with the completion of the CPEC and by 2045 Chinese population may be greater than the population of people of Pakistani origin in the province. However, “we have projected the trends of population on the basis of existing rate of population in Balochistan province, mainland China and entire Pakistan as per the result the Pakistani origin peoples will remain in majority in Balochistan up to 2048.” The optimistic aspect of the CPEC is the speedy developing infrastructure and improving livelihood conditions in Balochistan. The incoming investors and settlers may offer attractive prices for land acquisition- even better than the growing market value.  This situation provides good financial opportunities to the poor natives of Balochistan. However, Balochs ask one question that how the unskilled people of the province will maintain their lives without land ownership which is their only asset? the report said. But the answer to this question depends on the government policy regarding protection of the rights of investors, foreign workers and immigrants.

The change in population dynamics is the usual part of development and progress. However, the report said that there were several possible ways to avoid undesired situations. One of the possibilities is to devise a mechanism where the training and educational facilities should be provided to the natives people on affordable cost and ensure their participation in economic activities including employment, business ownership and civic authorities. The second mechanism is to secure the political supremacy of local peoples either by reserve seats in legislative and political institutions or through discriminatory voting rights. The report covers the signing of the FTA with China and flooding of the Chinese products inflow of Chinese investment and migration of Chinese labour to Pakistan. The report further said due to the FTA with China the trade deficit between Pakistan and China reached nine billion dollars, which was only one billion during 2002-2003. China’s total share in Pakistan exports is around 11 per cent, while its 37 per cent import is from China. Import from China has rapidly grown since 2007 after signing the FTA with China. Pakistan is facing huge trade deficit even after the FTA with China. The analysis of five years of trade before and after the FTA with China showing that balance of trade is in favour of China. After the FTA, Pakistan’s import from China increased four times. The report recommended that in granting the incentives to Chinese investors and enterprises, the policy makers must not ignore the Pakistani investors. The FPCCI has demanded to grant the same incentives to Pakistani businessmen as being provided to the foreign investors, and protection of the interests of the residents of Balochistan and Gwadar in specific through legislation. Alam said the FPCCI also proposed to the government to give complete management of the economic zones under the CPEC to the private sector.

Indian media advises govt to join CPEC

After Lt Gen Aamir Riaz, Commander Southern Command, suggested the Indian government to shun enmity and join the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor a few days ago, the Indian media advised its government to become a part of the project rather than oppose it. A Chinese Foreign Ministry official recently said that the CPEC is an "open initiative" of its One Belt One Road project, but it would consider the possibility of other countries joining it through consensus with Pakistan. The Hindu, a renowned Indian English daily also saw it that way and advised its government to become a part of the initiative which was commenced in 2015 by Pakistan and China. For one, the Indian media has highlighted the role of China as a global power and its efforts in redrawing the whole One Belt One Road initiative of China along Central Asia, just to incorporate Pakistan's interests. India has been unsuccessful in pinning Pakistan down as far as terrorism is concerned, with China blocking India's efforts time and again to accuse Pakistan of extending support to terrorist groups. Also, it was China which thwarted India's efforts to become a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. According to The Hindu, not only China but another important player in the region, Iran has expressed the desire for Gwadar to be a 'sister port' to Chabahar. Not only that, several Central Asian states such as Turkmenistan and others want to see Gwadar developed as an important port through which goods can move through Pakistan to the Chinese city of Kashgar.

Noting the importance of the meeting in Moscow among Russian, Chinese and Pakistani officials on Afghanistan this week, the editorial commented this ‘indicate much more is changing in the region than just the alignment of highways and tunnels’. "India cannot afford to be blindsided by their involvement with the OBOR project and Chinese plans. CPEC is no longer a project in Pakistan, but one that runs through it, a project that will link 64 countries," reads the editorial of The Hindu. So far, the Indian government has not responded to the offer extended by the Pakistani General but the case made by its media is a stellar one. Quoting the editorial, "CPEC is no longer a project in Pakistan, but one that runs through it, a project that will link 64 countries."