E-Paper
Pak not to compete with India for arsenals
Islamabad has realised that it cannot match New Delhi in terms of acquiring conventional weapons.
Pakistan is reportedly keen on strengthening its defence capabilities with the help of the Bush Administration and not on matching India in terms of conventional weapons acquisition, diplomatic sources here have been quoted by the Dawn as saying.
According to these sources, Islamabad has realised that it cannot match New Delhi in terms of acquiring conventional weapons, and therefore, its defence mandarins have opted to reorient their line of thinking towards being more strategically proficient.
They further claimed that since the May 1998 nuclear tests, Pakistan has developed a new defence strategy of meeting the Indian threat with the help of "strategic systems, not conventional weapons".
They said that the decision to acquire eight P-3 Orion reconnaissance planes from the United States was part of this strategy. The planes would help Pakistan prevent a possible naval blockade of Karachi, which India had successfully enforced during the 1971 war.
"The Orions can warn you that ships are coming and you can launch your submarines and aim your missiles. This will blunt the huge strategic advantage India had in 1971," an unnamed defence expert was quoted as saying.
They pointed out that during the last six years, Pakistan has regularly tested several medium and short-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads and is satisfied that it possesses a reliable weapon-delivery system. But despite this satisfaction, Pakistan still wants F-16s because it needs an effective air force and the restrictions imposed on it in the 1990s has greatly depleted its air power.
Pakistan has said that it wants the F-16s also because it is familiar with the system and has developed an infrastructure that includes trained pilots and maintenance and servicing facilities. If it acquires another set of similar aircraft, it will have to rebuild a new infrastructure which will be costly and time consuming.
But the experts said that the recently concluded meeting of the US-Pakistan Defence Consultative Group in Islamabad was not the appropriate forum for discussing Islamabad's desire for buying the F-16s. "Although this issue must have been raised, this was not the focus," said a diplomatic source.
The sources said that F-16 is one of the several systems Pakistanis are pursuing with the US and other countries. Pakistan, they said, is also buying new weaponry from the United States as part of a 1.3 billion dollar defence package announced late last year.
The United States is also upgrading the weapon systems Pakistan purchased from Washington in the 1980s. Besides, Pakistan is acquiring eight refurbished C-130 aircraft from the Americans. Seven of these aircraft will be used for active service while the eighth will be "cannibalised" for providing spares for these planes.
"The bottomline is, Pakistan is seeking to build up an effective defensive mechanism, not an aggressive weapon systems," said a diplomatic source.
