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Pakistan, China and India are the three bordering countries with a lot of geopolitical interconnectedness but they are still not formally integrated in a region. China is located in a different region, carrying a distinct geography, history and civilization that in return has hampered to frame a regional organization for cooperation with Pakistan and India, despite the fact that all the three share common regional bonds through various other regional and international bodies. The paper therefore, examines that how the international bodies have been helping to bring the countries closer to realize the purpose of international cooperation. Being qualitative in nature the data for the research is gathered both from primary and secondary sources that was analyzed through thematic means. The findings refer that Pakistan, China and India are going closer to realize the sense of regional integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center collapsed and the Pentagon was attacked, triggering a sustained anti-terrorism campaign around the world. A number of cases have been reported where the war on terror has adversely affected the sovereignty of the state. The war on terror has been particularly devastating to Pakistan, one of the frontline states in this conflict. This war has compromised Pakistan's sovereignty a number of times. Specifically, this paper focuses on drone strikes by US forces in Pakistan's tribal areas, including attacks on Salallah checkpoints and the killing of Osama in Abbottabad without obtaining permission or sharing information from Pakistan. There is still a lack of trust between the United States and Pakistan, so it was the Pakistani government's responsibility to protect its regional interests before entering this war and deciding the scope of Allied Forces authority. The paper concludes that the US-led forces have undermined Pakistan's sovereignty. The document notes that intelligence cooperation, allies' trust, and the respect for national sovereignty of states are very important factors for the advancement of the antiterrorism effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan occupies an elevated role in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and hosts its so-called flagship project, the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Existing literature has often interpreted this project from a geopolitical perspective, as a vehicle through which a rising China projects influence on a peripheral country and advances its own centrality in international affairs. While such motivations certainly played a major role in getting the project off the ground, they are not the sole determinant of its design, or the heated controversies it triggered within Pakistan. This paper seeks to capture both dimensions by analysing the development of CPEC, and the handling of the conflicts it sparked, through a lens of overlapping centre–periphery relations: one between China and Pakistan at the international level, and one between Islamabad and peripheral regions and groups within the country. I argue that this model best captures the pivotal position and resulting agency of national governments in shaping local BRI implementations. It also shows how the BRI is not a straight case of Chinese influence radiating outwards; rather, contestation by local actors in turn forces adaptations in Chinese foreign and security policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrastructure has played an agential role in the securitisation of everyday life in the Karakoram high mountains of north Pakistan. Geopolitics bear heavily on this region where Pakistan shares borders with China, with whom it has aligned its foreign and security policy, and with India, with whom Pakistan remains embroiled in a long‐standing territorial dispute. Consequently, in the Karakoram, geopolitical anxieties have reflected inwards onto local populations through both security infrastructure and securitised infrastructure. In this postcolony frontier space, statecraft also frequently bypasses normative legal and administrative structures; such exceptions to normative law and administration have antecedents in colonial statecraft on the territorial margins of empire. This paper also argues that long cycles of military rule have allowed the military to acquire and project technocratic expertise, become custodians of state‐led development, and recently, to assume guardianship of, and to enter into joint financing with China on, construction projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the factors responsible for compelling Pakistan to support the 'Operation Enduring Freedom 'led by the USA and its Allies in Afghanistan in 2001.The goals behind this operation were to dismantle the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization in Afghanistan. When the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan in 1996, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and UAE, were the only states who recognized their government in Afghanistan. Pakistan considers Taliban as a strategic asset for obtaining its objectives in Afghanistan. Regional and extra-regional powers such as, the India, US, Russia, Iran supported their client groups in support of their own national interest, in Afghanistan. However, keeping in view the US-India strategic partnership in the region, Pakistan changed its foreign policy, and supported the Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. This change of policy brought up economic and political, and security challenges for Pakistan. Terrorist activities, suicide killings, and bomb blasts hit the society. Since then, its security is in doldrums. The paper argues that serious internal and external security factors compelled Pakistan to change its policy towards Afghanistan in 2001. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tribal region of the North West Frontier (NWF) of the Indian Sub-continent was geo-politically an important region for the British India. It provided a direct link to Afghanistan. During the colonial history of India, Afghanistan was used as a buffer between the expanding Russian Empire and India. So the tribal areas of the NWF were to be used as a buffer between Afghanistan and India in case Russia penetrate in Afghanistan. Beside this, controlling the tribal areas also helped in protecting the adjacent settled districts from the plunder of the tribesmen. The tribal areas also provided safe passages to the British convoys. The paper highlights colonization and administration of the tribal areas of the NWF, and the geopolitical interests of the British colonial power in this area. The paper explores all this through the lens of the colonial literature produced during that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With China's continuous rise and growing external commercial, strategic, and political endeavours, questions have arisen about the motivation, timing, and locale of China's outreaching strategies. This research analyzes China's overseas port investments through a comparative study of Greece and Pakistan, two important partners of China's Belt and Road Initiative. Adopting the neoclassical realist framework and drawing on expert interviews, official statistics, and policy documents, this paper reveals how China's economic security objectives in combination with changing geopolitical structures led to its external port investments. This research contributes to the studies on rising powers and geopolitics by showing how China as a rising power capitalizes on geopolitical opportunities created by the changing interests of dominant powers to expand its presence in strategically important regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan and Bangladesh have suffered a long way under the military rule where two military dictators-Zia ul Haq and Zia ur Rehman correspondingly, made the extensive use of Islam in the domain of politic, resulting into the Islamic extremism in these two countries. Bangladesh managed to overcome the issue of military involvement in politics and the corresponding Islamic extremism, Pakistan has become even more vulnerable to such undemocratic and extremist forces. This paper first briefly explores the regional and trans-regional factors involved in Islamization of these two countries. The resultant Islamic extremism in these two countries is then analyzed with the help of three major indicators: Islamization of Laws; growth of Madrassas and official patronage of the religious political parties by the two military dictators. Thus, this research is unique from the previous studies on two grounds: first it explores the interrelationship of geopolitics, military rule and Islamic extremism; second it analyzes variation in impacts of the Islamization policies in these two countries in the context of their distinct geographical settings and their corresponding importance for the big powers in diverse situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan's vital geopolitical position is an advantage for this South Asian nation. It is located at the apex of the Arabian Peninsula. Thus, the People's Republic of China has setup the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with a futuristic strategy to gain long-term benefits. This planning is not random at all. It is a cohesive plan to revitalize the financial system of its long-standing collaborator and ally through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is currently the talk of the town. The present study analyzes how Pakistan's conventional economic outlook can be transformed through the CPEC. While harnessing the power of Pakistan as a 'trade route', the CPEC has the potential to reshape transport & security options, increase the cost-effectiveness of goods, and widen the scope for new and existing businesses. it will develop a networking coherence among agricultural & industrial hubs and connect special economic zones (SEZs) with the rest of the country and beyond. This paper evaluates the CPEC's fiscal footprint on Pakistan's economy and examines the correlation between overcoming economic shortcomings and increasing future gains through a cause-and-effect relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geopolitical environmentof South Asia has significantlychanged in last two decades. This change essentially poses various challenges and brings opportunities for Pakistan in the region. The prime focus of this paper is to give an insight into challenges faced by Pakistan in a historical narrationand to critically evaluate the implications of emerging geopolitical environment for Pakistan's foreign policy. Therefore, this study, by adopting realist perspective, develops "stress and strain" frameworkto analyses the impacts of regional geopoliticson foreign policy of Pakistan. Thishistorical analysisreveals that the interest of great powers in the region changes with passage of timeand thus changes their allianceswith regional states. This shifting of alliances modifies the way of interaction among regional states. The study concludes with suggestions that the articulation of national interest and foreign policy of Pakistanneeds to be reviewed continuouslyin order to overcome the emerging challenges and to find the best possible way of engagement at regional and international level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pak-China relations have been exemplary in the contemporary international politics. Both States have been maintaining strong ties in terms of diplomatic and military cooperation. However, the close economic cooperation has added a new dimension in the Pak-China all weather partnership. Over the years, China and Pakistan strategic cooperation has evolved at unprecedented level. In the year 2013, the Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the construction of One Belt One Road (OBOR) that aims to connect China with West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia and Middle East. It is a bitter fact that, since 9/11 Pakistan has suffered in socio-political and especially in economic dimension. The regional security environment and rise of extremism and terrorism has resulted into the hampering economic development. Therefore, the CPEC project will prove to be game changer and when completed it will have deep impact on economic development of Pakistan in future. The CPEC provides an opportunity for Pakistan to stabilize its society and reshape its positive image at international level from fragile State to emerging economy in the South Asian region. The rise of China in economic sphere has been jealously seen by other developed countries while for Pakistan it has been a blessing factor. Thus, PakChina strategic partnership entered into the new phase of economic cooperation that will certainly change the dynamics of the regional politics. This paper aims to discuss the multiple dimensions of CPEC its importance for Pakistan and China along with its internal and external challenges. Moreover, economic and security perspectives will be focused in detail. To fully understand the role of CPEC as driving force of economic prosperity, this paper discusses its potential as a game changer for both China and Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will consider the Geopolitics of the CPEC and its security implication for India in the Indian Ocean. The CPEC is a multi-billion dollars' mega project that would connect the city of Kashgar in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang to the port city of Gwadar in Pakistan's province in Balochistan. A significant milestone for the project was reached when the management of the Gwadar Port was given to Chinese Overseas Port Holdings in 2013. This paper intends to go beyond economics and look at CPEC through the lens of geopolitics. CPEC would outline China's long-term geopolitical plans in the Indian Ocean which could alter the region's security environment. However, both China and Pakistan are faced with a series of challenges that hinder the maximisation of the project; nevertheless, the CPEC still has serious security implications for India. Issues that encompass India's territorial integrity and the naval build-up of China and Pakistan in the Indian Ocean significantly challenge its strategic and geopolitical interests in the region. India is thus opposed to the development of the CPEC in its backyard and must craft a strategy that would serve as a counter-weight in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Port of Gwadar is the gateway to the three most strategically important regions of South Asia, Central Asia, and West Asia, with the potential to transform South Asia's geopolitics. Gwadar's deep seaport provides important strategic and financial advantages to Pakistan because of its major position at the mouth of the Arabian sea and the world's most important oil chokepoint Straits of Hormuz. Gwader is regarded as the crown jewel of recent economic paradigms, but it influences the industry in some countries and threatens political interests of others. In Gwadar Port, China intends to improve its relationship with Pakistan to maintain and retain its routes of crude oil imports and extending its links to the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. Pakistan and China need a forward-looking plan to involve the regional countries to ensure the initiative's most promising outcome. This paper explores political implications of Gwader port and its prospects in Persian Gulf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]