Pakistan on Saturday defended the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project, saying it is “for the betterment of the people in the region and beyond”, the Dawn reported. The country’s foreign office said the international community should instead focus on the “human rights violations” by India in Kashmir.

Pakistan’s comments come days after the United States agreed with India that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor passes through a disputed territory in Kashmir. India has publicly opposed the project, which is a part of China’s One Belt, One Road initiative.

“In a globalised world, there are many belts and many roads, and no one nation should put itself into a position of dictating ‘one belt, one road’,” US Defence Secretary James Mattis had said in a Congressional hearing on October 3, referring to China’s One Belt One Road plan. “That said, the One Belt One Road also goes through disputed territory, and I think, that in itself shows the vulnerability of trying to establish that sort of a dictate.”