GENEVA: In a veiled reference to India, Pakistan has voiced concern over the growing transfer of conventional armaments in volatile regions, saying it has potential to jeopardise regional balance.
This was stated by Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva Farukh Amil while speaking at a meeting of the General Assembly’s Disarmament and International Security Committee.
He said the reflection of the same troubling trend is mirrored, particularly in South Asia where one state’s military spending grossly out-shadows all others.
Ambassador Farukh Amil said Pakistan is committed to the establishment of strategic stability in South Asia, adding that the country neither wants, nor is it engaged in an arms race in the region.
On Sunday, Indian media reports stated that the Trump Administration is “considering” India’s request for armed drones for its air force.
Early this year, the IAF had requested the US Government for General Atomics Predator C Avenger aircraft. It is understood that IAF would need 80 to 100 units making it approximately a whopping $8 billion deal.
The Trump administration’s consideration in this regard comes months after a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump at the White House on June 26, during which the US announced to sell 22 unarmed Guardian drones to India, which would add the Indian Navy’s surveillance capabilities in the strategic Indian Ocean region.
Last week, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had said that in keeping with India’s status as a major defence partner and their mutual interest in expanding maritime cooperation, the Trump administration has offered a menu of defence options for India’s consideration, including the Guardian UAV.
“We value the role India can play in global security and stability and are prepared to ensure they have even greater capabilities,” Tillerson had said ahead of his visit to India.
He did not mention about armed drones. He, however, said, “the proposals the US has put forward, including for Guardian UAVs, aircraft carrier technologies, the Future Vertical Lift program, and F-18 and F-16 fighter aircraft, are all potential game changers for our commercial and defence cooperation.”
To upset the balance of military power is a political and economic policy of one and only champion of human rights, a hegemonic power that is destabilising not a country but entire regions to make mega money through export of military hardware. This power has lost the race in manufacturing capital and consumer goods, it is doing its best to make money from goods that destroy human life and causes misery and mayhem.
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