Trump-Munir Bonhomie: Risking American Interests for Personal Gains?

The suffering of the people of Gilgit started in 1947, when a war enabled Pakistan to snatch this strategic Himalayan territory from India. The loss of Gilgit shifted the regional strategic balance, with India losing border with Afghanistan, and China unexpectedly acquiring uninterrupted access to the Indian Ocean through Pakistan.

Gilgit is the first victim of the nefarious China Pakistan-Economic Corridor (CPEC), as it empowers China to treat Gilgit as an extension of its Xinjiang province where Uighur, Kazakh and Mongolian nations face economic, racial and cultural extermination. Like Tibet and Xinjiang, people in Gilgit endure land grabbing, ethnic engineering, cultural genocide, mineral extraction and the resultant environmental costs. Given India’s legal claim on Gilgit, Pakistan inviting a third party like China to abuse the disputed land and oppress its voiceless inhabitants is both unethical and unconstitutional.

Both Pakistan and China use Gilgit as a terrorist launch pad to attack India. Whether it was the infamous Kargil War or the more recent Hindu massacre in Pahalgam, access to Gilgit enables China to assist Pakistan in orchestrating bleed-India campaigns. The suffering in Gilgit is about to get worse with President Trump becoming the benefactor of the Pakistani military forces. The diplomatic and financial sustenance to Pakistan which employs overt and covert terrorism to undermine global peace, stability and security compromises long term American interests. This also adds salt to the wounds to those Americans who saw the White House administration abandoning long term ally India after the Pahalgam terrorist attack. It also disappoints the Americans who lost loved ones in the Mumbai terror attack and are still waiting for justice.

General Asim Munir’s long-term global agenda includes promoting Islamism and boosting China’s imperialist designs and both are a threat to US internal security. Elements within the Pakistani military use ISIS and Hamas to gain leverage against Afghanistan and India that foments anarchy and carnage. In recent months, Pakistan stood with China to challenge America in the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea. China remains Pakistan’s top priority and any strategic lifeline to Pakistan is a direct dividend for China.

Historians assert that one who controls Gilgit dominates the Indian Ocean. China’s firm presence in Gilgit and command over commercial sea-lanes in the Indian Ocean hurts global peace. The CPEC also threatens India’s sovereignty and territorial unity. Therefore, any conversation between President Trump and Pakistani leadership must include occupation of Gilgit and impact of China’s strategic abuse of Gilgit on US-India relations.