Recent reports on US arms sales
to Pakistan and lease of four Russian TU 22Ms for
India are making the rounds and we analyse the
implications.
USA has come up in defence of
its arms transfers to Pakistan, which were cleared
by the Congress, because Bush has control of both
houses and so this went through swiftly. A piece by
Ela Dutt is appended. Besides Notes Verbales from our
MEA mandarins and a few protest noises we should
take it in our stride. India can live with this.
We are unsure whether the
hardware is being paid for from the Aid package, or
in cash by Pakistan. ‘The Land of The Pure’
which is what Pakistan stands for!
The peace talks are continuing
with PM Aziz meeting PM Manmohan Singh with
cordiality and we saw Natwar Singh pat the Pakistani
Ambassador to India on TV in a show of bonhomie. MEA
is doing well –– wield a big stick, fence the
border and kill the militants but speak softly
–– our military bosses should do like wise. Ther
is no need to panic if Pakistan gets a few guns.
We hope there will be no
breakdowns in our talks for a few years and in any
case we do not expect a break through, but our
diplomats need to continue the break dance with
Pakistan. It will ensure our economy continues to
grow and Pakistan will have little option in a few
years, but to accept the LOC as the international
border, which is now spelt out as our aim. No more
partitions. This was the vision of Jawahar Lal
Nehru, no matter how much we berate him now, and the
wish of Indira Gandhi in the Shimla Agreement, which
Bhutto reneged on.
The Indian media (Statesman)
reports that Putin will offer four TU 22M when he
comes next week and though they come in ‘maritime
recce’ form for the Navy, any professional will
tell you they are one of the finest nuclear bombers
and we may presume that they will form part of
India's nuclear deterrent. The Navy flies the TU 142
and can well fly these big old machines. A reading
of the media from time to time tells us that there
is a connection between the sale of Gorshkov, to be
followed by the Akula class submarines in 2007/8 (as
reported by Inter Fax) and if true the four TU 22Ms
on lease may follow and as a deterrent even for
China. These will be great nuclear platforms.
The IAF has been against the TU
22Ms as their QFIs who saw them operate in Iraq
(when the IAF were training the Iraqis in the 1980s)
claim they were ancient then. The Indian Navy has
always managed well with ancient equipment, so
let’s hope the media report is correct. Indian
Navy is headed by a Harrier jet pilot CNS who won
his VRc with the IAF in the 1971 war and he will
know how to induct the TU22s should they come, and
IAF should cooperate as they are the present
deliverers of India's nuclear second strike.
Pakistan's reactions will be awaited with interest,
should the 4 TU 22M story come true. Meanwhile lets
enjoy the break dance.
US Defends Sales to Pakistan
By Ela Dutt
Indo-Asian News Service
Washington, Nov 24 (IANS) The State
Department has stoutly defended the US policy of
selling sophisticated military weaponry to Pakistan
while at the same time building closer relations
with India.
State Department spokesperson Adam
Ereli, questioned about the dichotomy high-level
Indian officials have expressed to the Bush
administration, implied that arms sales to Pakistan
were a commercial venture and it was not
Washington's concern that they may be used against
India.
"There is no contradiction
between having strong, good relations with India and
meeting the defence needs of other countries through
the sale of US arms. Our arms sales policy, I think,
is clear, governed by US interests and congressional
legislation, it's transparent, it's publicly
notified, and we've done that in the case of the
recent transactions in question," asserted
Ereli.
"So there should, I think,
there should be no question that you can have good
relations with one country and sell arms to another
country. It's not a mutually exclusive proposition,
and nor should it be."
But when asked if, by the same
token, Washington would have any objection if India
bought arms from other countries such as France or
Russia, Ereli seemed to back up a bit.
"Again, I mean, as a general
proposition, our view is countries are free to buy
arms from whatever their source. The question is
what -- you know, what is the purpose of those
acquisitions? What does that represent for the
strategic balance in the region? And that's how we
evaluate these sort of things," Ereli
qualified.
Ereli also dismissed any thought
that US-India relations had suffered following the
Bush administration's recent announcement that it
planned to sell more than one billion dollars of
sophisticated weapons to Pakistan, and Congress
passing the $300 million military aid package to
Islamabad.
"We did not intend to suggest
that somehow relations were not good and went from a
position of being less than excellent to something
better than that," he said about a press
release that outlined the basics of a meeting
between the State Department's top South Asia
official Christina Rocca and India's Foreign
Secretary Shyam Saran.
"Our relations -- I think what the statement
was trying to underscore is that we have a very
strong bilateral relationship with India, that our
level of cooperation in a variety of fields is
intensive and mutually beneficial, and that the
meeting in question contributed to that overall --
that overall condition," Ereli said