Financial Times, Pakistan said Monday that Israel's approval on Sunday of a $1.1bn sale of sophisticated military technology to India could destabilise the region and undermine the fledgling peace process between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Islamabad warned that the deal, in which India would acquire three Phalcon early-warning aircrafts from Israel and Russia, could fuel the arms race between the two countries. The technology, which could be used both defensively and offensively, would also encourage Pakistan to seek a similar system, it hinted.
“The sales of sophisticated weapons to India will accentuate strategic and conventional imbalance in South Asia,” said Masood Khan, the Pakistan government spokesman. “Such transactions also undermine the spirit of peace and stability being pushed by Pakistan, India and the international community.”
Indian officials would not comment on Pakistan's reaction. But they pointed out that India's defence calculations also included neighbouring China, which defeated India in a border war in 1962. India and China have recently embarked on talks to resolve their border dispute. “India's defence requirements are not all targeted at Pakistan,” said one official.
However, few doubt that Islamabad's underlying concern is the United States' expected approval in the next few months of the sale to India of the Israeli Arrow anti-ballistic missile system, for which New Delhi has been fiercely lobbying.
In January, the US and India signed a landmark deal in which Washington agreed to gradually relax its restrictions on the export of “dual-use” technology to India. In exchange, India pledged to tighten its export control safeguards.
The deal came shortly after Atal Behari Vajpayee, India's prime minister, met General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, and agreed to embark on a formal peace process. The Arrow sale was not mentioned in the agreement between New Delhi and Washington. But it was implicit to the understanding, say officials.
“It is clear that the peace process between India and Pakistan is going well at the moment,” said Sundeep Waslekar, head of the Strategic Foresight Group, a think tank, in Mumbai. “But it is a very delicate process and as we have seen from previous efforts the situation can rapidly flip back into hostilities if it fails.”
Pakistani officials warned that the introduction by India of an anti-missile system could induce Pakistan to upgrade its nuclear missile capability, which in turn would compel India to do the same. Both plan to test their long-range nuclear-capable missiles in the near future.
In contrast to its more relaxed attitude towards India, the US is likely to further tighten its export control on defence sales to Pakistan following revelations that A.Q. Khan, the “father” of Pakistan's nuclear deterrent, had been at the centre of an international nuclear proliferation market.
