The Hindu : International / India & World : India `paranoid' over F-16s: Pakistan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004

International

International - India & World

India `paranoid' over F-16s: Pakistan

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, DEC. 13. Accusing India of being "paranoid" over its efforts to acquire F-16 fighter aircraft, Pakistan today rejected India's statements on its weapons acquisition programme as disturbing and urged it to maintain symmetry.

"We must restore symmetry and bring stability to the region," the Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman, Masood Khan, told the weekly briefing. He was responding to reported statements by the Indian External Affairs and Defence Ministers voicing concern over the $ 1.3-billion assistance programme to Pakistan by the U.S. and the sale of F-16 aircraft.

"By saying that, they are misleading Indian public opinion and misinforming the international community," Mr. Khan said. "We have assurance from the highest level to continue with the peace process," he added.

`Modest programme'

"Pakistan is pursuing a modest programme to fill up the gap that emerged during the '90s due to U.S. sanctions, which crippled our capability," Mr. Khan said. Pakistan does not want to match India and enter an arms race. "India's shopping list for weapons is non-exhaustive and there should be a sense of balance," he said.

Mr. Khan said while the weapons acquisition of Pakistan was modest, India had a "very ambitious" $ 95-billionsweapons acquisition programme over the next 15 years. He said defence analysts and international defence think-tanks had noted India's massive purchase of weapons.

Mr. Khan said the weapons acquisition programme would not have any bearing on nuclear and conventional confidence building measure (CBM) talks between the two neighbours beginning here tomorrow.

Two-day talks on nuclear CBMs begin here tomorrow while parleys on conventional CBMs will be held on December 15-16. This is the first time that the two sides would be holding talks on conventional CBMs.

The Joint Secretary of the Indian External Affairs Ministry, Mira Shankar, would be heading the Indian delegation.

Her Pakistani counterpart, Tariq Usman Haider, would be leading his country's delegation.

The two sides will discuss follow-up measures to an MOU reached in June to start hotline contacts between the Foreign Secretaries and other measures. The Indian delegation would call on the Pakistan Foreign Minister, Khurshid M. Kasuri, Mr. Khan said.

Elaborating on issues to be taken up in the nuclear CBMs talks, Mr. Khan said being nuclear states, both countries needed an elaborate framework to avoid accidental and unauthorised launch of missiles.

The aim of the talks was to reduce the risk of accidents and hotline contacts would help in this regard, he said.

Mr. Khan said nothing much was expected from the conventional CBM talks, as this was the first time the issue would be discussed. "We would learn each other's perspective on various issues," he said.

The talks would focus more on understanding each other's positions, he said.

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