India is believed to be increasingly upset over the development of Gwadar port by China under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and hence independent observers suggest that Chabahar and Gwadar could become rival ports in the future.
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A three-way transit agreement on Iran’s southern port of Chabahar was signed by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Monday.
China has already helped develop – to varying degrees – the ports of Chittagong in Bangladesh, Colombo and Hambantota in Sri Lanka, and Gwadar in Pakistan. Linked to the Chabahar port development, the corridor will give an opportunity to India to expand trade and connectivity with Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan.
INP adds: Pakistan and Iran have agreed on revival of weekly train service between Taftan and Quetta to boost trade activities between both the countries. It is surrounded by Afghanistan in the North, Pakistan in the North-East and India in the East. It is the only Iranian port with direct access to the ocean.
Had the port not been located roughly 70 km away from the Gawador deep sea port in Pakistan, which is being developed and run by China, it would probably have only been mentioned as another infrastructure project to promote trade between two nations.
“This behaviour, flowing from Pakistan’s possession of nuclear weapons, is what makes deterrence in South Asia more unstable than it would otherwise be- if Pakistan’s strategic objectives were as conservative as India’s”, he said. Once it is extended to Chabahar, there will be a land route that can easily connect with Central Asian republics.
“There is no question, ambiguity on it”, he said. He said that it is “not limited to these three countries” and even Pakistan and China was welcome to be a part of it. This port will allow New Delhi to have access to Kabul and with Central Asia without dealing with Pakistan.
BMI Research, a Fitch Group company, said the governments of India, Iran and Afghanistan have taken a significant step towards closer co-operation by signing an agreement on May 23 to develop Iran’s southern port of Chabahar.
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The statement has come in after United States assaulted a white corolla in Balochistan’s Nushki killing Afghanistan Taliban chief Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada who was purportedly returning from Iran after meeting with his family.
