- Pakistan has a much acclaimed geostrategic location as it lies between Central and South Asia as also between South and West Asia. It also has a coastline just at the mouth of Gulf of Hormuz and therefore straddles the oil routes emanating from the gulf.
- Pakistan realised the potential of this location very early on and went about putting it to good use. In the early fifties and sixties it offered its lands to USA for establishing airbases for flying spying missions against the erstwhile USSR. It also permitted support facilities for US clandestine missions in Tibet at that time against China.
- Subsequently during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Pakistan leased its facilities to USA again for fighting a proxy war against the USSR, albeit the US involvement this time was indirect. Post 9/11, Pakistan once again permitted USA to use its airbases as also other facilities for launching the military operations in Afghanistan.
- With the drawdown of ISAF, Pakistan has now turned to China and asked it to develop Gwadar port with a view to later position Chinese naval vessels there. While it has not come out in open media, the Pak strategy of loaning its land to outside power may further manifest in the form of Chinese air force using some of the Pak airbases. China clearly has a problem of take-off weight when its fighter aircrafts take off from the high altitudes of Tibet. This severely restricts Chinese air operational capability in South Asia. This problem will be offset in case Pakistan agrees to loan its airbases to China. Procurement of Chinese airplanes by PAF makes this logistically feasible also.
- We have also seen recent Russian interest in CPEC. Bulk of CPEC proposals are for Chinese investments in Pakistan’s energy infrastructure development. There does not seem too much Russian investment potential in such projects. This raises the question as to what is the real Russian interest in CPEC. Could it be that once again Pak has secretly agreed to let Russian fleets use the naval facilities at Gwadar. It may not be out of place to mention that development of Gwadar is being carried out as part of CPEC. After all presence of Chinese and Russian naval vessels at Gwadar indirectly enhances the security of Pak Navy in a possible future conflict with India. For both China and Russia it gives them a naval base in the Indian Ocean and thus the capability to have a strategic presence there.
- In addition to leasing its lands/coastline to the highest bidder, Pakistan has also been hiring out its armed forces to other nations such as Libya and Saudi Arabia. In return Pakistan has been seeking military and other aid as also guarantees of strategic support in foras like the United Nations.
- Thus Pakistan has repeatedly been hiring out its sovereignty to suitable players. To be fair, their leaders have been smart by being able to extract maximum advantage from countries like China and USA without really compromising too much. It is though yet to be seen if they will be able to outsmart China as much as they could hoodwink the USA.
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