No offense taken, you are a moderate poster with liberal and pragmatic approach indeed.
True, there are similarities but the difference is that Xinjiang is an integral part of China and Pakistan is not. Both countries share the vision that development of Xinjiang can be excellerated by linking her with Gwadar port thru the socalled energy corridor which obvioulsy will be beneficial for Pakistan aswell.
When Pakistan approched China in the sixties, she was poorer than us. The alliance was not designed to keep a check on India but to cooperate in fields China was better in: agriculture. China helped us a lot to improve crops yield and output. The military cooperation first started in 1965 war and China made rapid shipments of excessive military equipement. Earlier in 1963 Chu En Lai flirted with the idea to have a joint military action against India, an idea we rejected since it would upset USA and the USSR. It was not till 1971 when we felt betrayed by our western allies and started to concentrate on China as our future military ally.
China might be able to handle 10 million Uyghurs and other muslim minorities, Pakistan's 190 million muslims is different thing. First of all we would reject any kind of religious supression. In Pakistan, every empoyee has the freedom to leave for friday prayers. Try to do that under Chinese model. You know the answer...
Pakistan is not breaking down, au contraire we are awakening. This is Pakistani spring, people are standing up against feudal pilitical dynasties, corruption, nepotism, favoritisn and all other political injustice we have been experiencing for almost seven decades. But enough is enough and we believe that this is not a true democracy.
In.what democtacy does the PM's family occupy 34 seats in the Parliament and 84 as Members of National Asembly?? The current political crisis is not fuelled by the powerful army, this time.its a civil coup in the making.
The army is fighting a bloody war in Waziristan and has to keep a check on LoC. USA/Nato are vacating Afghanistan in few months which will put extra pressure on PA. This is not the time for a military coup, it will weaken Pakistan and the military knows it hence her support for democracy.
Remember, it was Nawaz and Nisar who dragged the Army in current crisis under artikle 245. Even then army refused to comply to their demands and agreed to protect the buildings but refused to use force against.civilians and Nawaz/Nisar had to turn to the police for protection.
This is the first time in our history that artikel 245 is not being abused: The military does not have the responsibility to protect politicians against unarmed civil protestors. It is the responsibility of the police.
If PA wanted a coup, she would have done it long before.
as you know your country and its history well you've written a good post and i agree with most if not
all your points
what i said earlier also applies to India as well - namely that i think Modi may be making an error in seeking
investment from ccp-china . Sure the India side will say that they will differentiate between economic and
border delineation matters - but it is a fine balance and i wonder if India has the management capability to really
tread the fine line and keep that balance without toppling over into china-control of the economy.
as for military coup - it is not necessarily a mark against Pakistan if that happens - let me explain :-
if the military really care for the people , then what is so wrong when they take responsibility
for the nation - as a matter of fact India may have been better off with the military in charge during the first
couple of decades rather than Nehru ? It boils down to who is responsible and truly cares for the people
and not some blind allegiance to some foreign notion that only democracy that can be allowed .
China made leaps and bounds for its people and even now the PLA is basically the main force
in the management of that nation
Where it can go wrong is if the military might be "corrupt" or does not want to relinquish control
or if due to repeated military management of the nation, the civilian sectors are therefore deprived
of opportunities to develop their management skills - then it becomes a handicap....and i dont think
Pakistan is anywhere near that level of deprivation..
In fact in India with one family being in control for so long- passing power from "father" to shall we
say "son" and "grandson" great-grand etc etc, isnt that a form of one coup after another ? Only difference
is that they didn't wear a uniform and perhaps less disciplined ?