India has every reason to be alarmed by Pakistan-China alliance: US lawmaker

WASHINGTON: India has every reason to be alarmed by the Pakistan-China alliance, which has emerged as a threat to their neighbours and democracy in the region, a top US lawmaker said on Thursday.

China has emerged as an all-weather ally of Pakistan, where it has launched several development projects with an investment of over $50 billion under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's ambitious Border and Road Initiative (BRI).

The CPEC, launched in 2015, is a planned network of roads, railways and energy projects linking China's resource-rich Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region with Pakistan's strategic Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea.

China has also blocked India's move to designate Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief and Pathankot terror attack mastermind Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the United Nations.

The Pakistan-China alliance is hostile to the basic tenants of democracy and hostile to its neighbours, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said during a Congressional hearing.

"India has every reason to be alarmed by this new cooperation and coordination between China and Pakistan. Pakistan, who is immersed and its leaders are immersed in radical Islam and terrorism, not only to terrorise their neighbours, but to terrorise their own populations into submission," the lawmaker said.

He alleged that Sindhis were being brutalised and murdered. And same is the treatment with supporters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Karachi and the Balochs.

"These groups of people are being brutalised by this corrupt government in Islamabad in alliance now with China, which of course is the world's worst human rights abuser," Rohrabacher said.

Congressman Brad Sherman raised the issue of human rights violations against Sindhis.

Responding to questions, Senior Bureau Official for South and Central Asian Affairs, Alice Wells told members of House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee for Asia and the Pacific that of late there has been popular protests against the disappearances against staged encounters in Pakistan.

"This is very much a leading part of political dialogue right now in Pakistan, the rule of law and the relationship of the political establishment to its people," Wells said.