June 03, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 28, 1429

LAHORE, June 2: Pakistan can export Al-Khaled and Zarrar tanks, armoured personnel carriers (APCs), small planes used for training purposes and small arms to countries wanting to purchase them, says Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar.

He told Dawn here on Monday that Pakistan was manufacturing these defence-related items and was in a position to meet the requirements of other countries wanting to import them.

About the new year’s defence budget, he said the allocations had been made keeping in mind the requirements of the armed forces. “Nothing extraordinary has been deleted or added.”

The minister said the inflationary trends had been met while deciding the allocations for various defence needs. He said the government was unlikely to make any major arms deal during the new year.

Asked if the defence budget would be debated by parliament, Mukhtar said: “I think it should be shown to the cabinet.”

He said once the cabinet was taken into confidence, nobody would be able to raise any fingers on the allocations.

The minister said there was no possibility of the US troops attacking the tribal areas of Pakistan on the pretext of Osama Bin Laden’s presence there. He said Osama was not in any part of Pakistan and the government would ensure he did not use Pakistan’s territory for his designs.

He said the US drones’ attacks on Pakistan had gone down after the civilian government took over in Pakistan. He recalled that only one such incident had taken place after the change of government in Pakistan and a strong protest had been lodged against it.

He said the National Security Council had become redundant after the change of the government as the composition of the controversial body stood completely changed. Now, most of the members belonged to the PPP government as a result of which President Musharraf would not be able to use it for his own interests.

In case the NSC was disbanded, he said, its functions would be transferred to the Defence Committee of the Cabinet, a body which was acceptable to all parties.