Days after India signed a defence deal with the US, it has been reported that Pakistan is deploying a new Chinese howitzer gun along the disputed border with India.
According to officials, China has been providing help to the Pakistan Army to build its defence infrastructure, along with supplying Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, setting up communication towers and laying underground cables along the Line of Control, in a report released by The Hindu.
Officials also claim that this action is a part of China's endeavour to solidify its ties as an ally of Pakistan while expanding Chinese enclaves in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Moreover, according to the officials, this was set up on the pretext of securing the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) road and hydel projects built in the occupied territory.
The report also stated that the recently developed SH-15, a 155 mm truck-mounted howitzer gun, has also been spotted at some places along the Line of Control (LoC) following its display on Pakistan Day in 2022.
Pakistan had signed a contract with Chinese firm North Industries Group Corporation Limited (Norinco) to supply 236 SH-15s, referred to as a 'shoot and scoot' artillery weapon. According to the British magazine Janes Defence, the first batch was delivered last January.
According to officials, while no high-ranking officials from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) were noticed at forward posts as they were in 2014, certain intercepted communications indicated that Chinese troops and engineers were constructing infrastructure along the Line of Control (LoC), such as underground bunkers.
Experts have linked the Chinese military's presence to Beijing's 46-billion-dollar CPEC, under which Gwadar Port in Pakistan's city of Karachi will be connected to China's Xinjiang province by the Karakoram highway –an area under the illegal Chinese occupation.
Moreover, the report stated that according to officials, the Chinese were digging tunnels in the Leepa Valley located in PoK to construct an all-weather road that would become an alternative route to reach the Karakoram highway.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)