Archives

LONDON, Oct 21 (AFP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair used a recent meeting with his Indian counterpart Atal Behari Vajpayee to push the sale of British Hawk Jets, at a time of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, a government spokeswoman confirmed Monday.

The spokeswoman was responding to a report in the Guardian daily that Blair raised the BAE Systems deal when his Indian counterpart visited Britain on October 11.

Both Blair's office and the Foreign Office stressed the British Hawks jets were designed as training aircraft for pilots.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "We make no apology for supporting a legitimate defence industry."

Officials also stressed any deal would be subject to "rigorous" controls.

But the Hawk jets can easily be converted for combat, as has happened in Indonesia, the left-of-centre Guardian pointed out.

India said on Wednesday it was pulling back a substantial number of soldiers deployed for nearly a year on the border with Pakistan. The following day Pakistan said it would follow suit.

However India ruled out any immediate resumption of talks with Pakistan, while its decision to pull back troops did not apply in the hotly disputed region of Kashmir.

A decision by India on the Hawk jets, an order under negotiation for over a decade, is expected soon, the Guardian said. It involves between 40 and 60 of the aircraft, the paper added.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager