Heavy security and a ‘climate of fear’ surround China’s flagship port in Pakistan
‘It doesn’t feel like a normal investment location or an enabling business environment if that level of protection needs to be provided’
For the thousands of attendees it was meant to be a conference to showcase China’s flagship Belt and Road project in Pakistan – the port in southwestern Gwadar that gives Beijing access to the Arabian Sea.
In the evenings the almost 8,000 delegates were wowed with cultural shows and a firework display at the newly opened five-storey Gwadar Exhibition Centre which was host to about 100 companies last month.
Yet what really caught the attention of some investors were the hundreds of Pakistani troops patrolling the roads and guarding high-end hotel lobbies.
“Nobody will come and invest in this climate of fear,” said Muhammad Zafar Paracha, director at the Pakistani partner of MoneyGram International Inc.
With national elections due in July, Pakistan’s government is keen to trumpet the commercial viability of the deep seaport in the once sleepy sea town of about 200,000 people in a province long racked by separatist insurgency. To secure Beijing’s funding of more than US$50 billion in infrastructure projects, Pakistan has raised a special 15,000 strong security force.