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| Wednesday, 15 December 2004 |
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Pakistan says India arms complaints "disturbing" ISLAMABAD, Tuesday (Reuters) Pakistan said it objected to India raising Islamabad's conventional arms purchase plans as an issue at discussions on confidence building steps between the two nuclear rivals. A Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman, speaking on the eve of the talks, said Islamabad had objections because India itself had an ambitious arms buying programme. India last week told U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that any arms sales to Pakistan would affect both New Delhi's relations with Washington and the India-Pakistan peace process. "These statements are disturbing," Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan told a news conference. "India's weapons acquisition and weaponisation programme is very ambitious. They have been buying weapons and sophisticated technology from all over the world." Khan described Pakistan's programme as modest compared to that of New Delhi, which it said spends billions of dollars on weapons. "We do not want to match India gun-for-gun, missile-for-missile, aircraft-for-aircraft," he said. In New Delhi, the U.S. ambassador to India, David Mulford, tried to allay New Delhi's fears over the proposed arms sales. "The United States is deeply sensitive to India's views on this matter," Mulford told reporters. "The U.S.-Pakistan relationship and the India-U.S. relationship are different and separate relationships and are freestanding." India's comments came after the Pentagon last month notified the U.S. Congress of three proposed arms sales to Pakistan worth $1.2 billion, including eight P-3C Orion surveillance planes. Islamabad is also seeking F-16 aircraft from Washington. |
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