ABSTRACT
The 2017 report focused on the China—Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a programme of infrastructure improvement launched by President Xi Jinping of China during a visit to Pakistan in 2015. The CPEC is a part of a Chinese initiative aimed at improving the country’s connection with the world to its west including the landlocked countries of Central Asia and Europe and Africa. One issue that came up for discussion was the role played by migration, both internal and international, in Pakistan’s political and economic life as well as its in relations with the rest of the world. The Soviet Unions’ attempted conquest of Afghanistan and the Pashtun resistance to that occupation in the 1980s generated another wave of migration. Between four and five million Afghan refugees crossed the porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan has adjusted its politics to deal with recurrent crises.
