India our foremost nemesis: Pakistani daily

Editorial in The Nation talks of Indian involvement in stalling China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project

India will always be our foremost nemesis, said a Pakistani daily and added that "civilian institutional development and agencies must not be allowed to become victims to the security dilemma".

An editorial "Security State" in The Nation on Friday said that the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) has highlighted the danger of Indian involvement hampering the implementation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

Briefing diplomats in Islamabad, FWO's Director General, Maj. Gen. Muhammad Afzal, said that a special security division has been raised by the army to "protect the project from Indian aggression". He added that another division will be raised to ensure foolproof security to Chinese and local engineers engaged in execution of the project.

"When the divide between the civilian leadership and the army is discussed, it is clear that the army functions effectively and fills the gaps in all arenas where the civilian leadership fails time and time again," said the editorial.

The FWO is an active-duty, major science and technology command of the Pakistan Army, the daily said. Commissioned and established in 1966, the FWO is an administrative branch of the Pakistan Army that includes active duty officers and civilian scientists and engineers.

The daily said that although "we appreciate the proactive role that the army is playing to ensure the smooth running of all CPEC related activities, it is saddening that state institutions are not strengthened, improved upon or empowered to do their job".

"Additionally, we are also bound to believe whatever the military mechanism says, because after all, we are a security state."

"We can neither question the threat of the enemy, nor question the motives of the FWO in keeping development and construction in its own hands."

The editorial asked if the army is responsible for all construction, protection and developing far-reaching areas, "then what is the point of having provincial assemblies and a hundred committees who have no authority or the capacity to function in their areas?"

It added: "India will always be our foremost nemesis, always at our door, but civilian institutional development and agencies must not be allowed to become victims to the security dilemma."

"In sixty-eight years, we should have found a solution, yet we continue to be held hostage by our situation."