Pakistan courts US with pitch for new sea port on Arabian Sea: Report

Advisers to Pakistan's powerful army chief have proposed to US officials the construction of a new port on the Arabian Sea near the borders with Afghanistan and Iran, a British newspaper has reported.  

The Financial Times, citing sources, reported on Saturday that the plan presented during a recent high-stakes meeting between the two sides envisions US investors constructing and managing a terminal in Pasni, a coastal town in Gwadar District, of southwestern Balochistan province, which is only about 160 kilometers away from Iran. 

The meeting, held late last month, followed earlier talks in September when Pakistan's Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sought US investment in agriculture, energy, technology, and mining.

The report noted that the proposal was circulated to some US officials and later shared with Munir in advance of his recent meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House.

Sharif reportedly pressed Washington to encourage private-sector involvement in Pakistan’s economy, while Munir’s advisers positioned the Pasni port project as a strategic opportunity for American companies.

The report noted that the initiative reflects Islamabad’s efforts to attract Western development financing, particularly for infrastructure projects linked to the country’s resource sectors.

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The audacious plan would give Washington a mineral gateway near China's flank. The blueprint plan, however, rules out any US military bases. Instead, it highlights development finance opportunities for a rail network linking Pasni to mineral-rich western provinces, the report said.

Commenting on the developments, Mushahid Hussain Sayed, a prominent Pakistani journalist and former senator, wrote that the US involvement in the plan will send a wrong message to Pakistan's two close, friendly neighbors, Iran and China, amid an already tense situation in the region.

"This is a very bad idea, which couldn’t have come at a worse time, when the entire region is unsettled!" Sayed said.  

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“Given President Trump’s stated desire to regain Bagram in next-door Afghanistan as a US military base, any suggestion for a US-run port in Pasni will be viewed with suspicion by Pakistan’s two close, friendly neighbors, China & Iran.”

“Sensitive Location of Pasni & Consequences of US-run port at Pasni! Pasni is located 100 miles from Gwadar, which is the centerpiece of CPEC, & 100 miles from Iran,” he said of China–Pakistan Economic Corridor, an infrastructure network project currently under construction in Pakistan. 

This comes as senior officials in Islamabad have accused the US and Israeli spy agencies of being behind the ongoing unrest across its Balochistan province

Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Muhammad Ishaq Dar, in a statement to Asharq al-Awsat, accused foreign intelligence agencies of fueling unrest in the Balochistan region and supporting militant groups.

The top Pakistani diplomat revealed that Pakistan had obtained “irrefutable” evidence linking these unnamed agencies to the region’s turmoil.

Pakistan, in the past, has accused Israel, a close ally of the US, of spying on its nuclear sites.

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