AFTER United States President Joe Biden declined to preside over India’s Republic Day celebration recently, India invited French President Emmanuel Macron. Disregarding the persecution of religious minorities and human rights violations by India, Macron agreed to oblige. The move was primarily aimed at boosting the French economy which, to say the least, is struggling currently.

After his move, Macron successfully signed deals worth billions of dollars by exploiting India’s amazingly false sense of insecurity.

India’s perspective, on the other hand, was different. It widely believed that these agreements would help France break its long-standing defence relation-ship with Pakistan, dispel its delusion of insecurity, and support its desperate attempt to tip the scales of power in the South Asian region.

Similarly, France, the US, Russia and Israel are tricking India into believing that it is in danger from Pakistan and China. In reality, they are attracting foreign exchange from India with the sole intent of maintaining their defence-related industries, boosting their own economies, and creating jobs for their own people back home.

Besides, what India hopes to achieve by spending billions on military weapons is irrational, ridiculous and unreal.

Pakistan, a nuclear power with a strong, nimble and ready armed forces, cannot be intimidated.

Likewise, China, boasting a strong nuclear deterrent with 320 nuclear weapons compared to India’s 150, cannot be intimidated by any stretch of imagination. If anything, the strategy is only making Pakistan more firmly entrenched in the Chinese camp.

For Pakistan, the benefits of this compelling security paradigm are greater than ever. Pakistan is forced to pursue self-sufficiency in defence manufacture due to a reduction in military hardware supply from the US and France. It is making investments in its own defence sector to create and produce a greater variety of military hardware, such as naval vessels, combat aircraft — most notably, the JF-17, which it co-developed with China — and small arms.

Moreover, Pakistan is replacing both the US and France with China and Turkiye. Both China and Pakistan chose to ignore the significant accords that were signed between India and France, and stayed silent. Probably, Pakistan and China are both well aware of the fact that all of India’s sophisticated arms, ammunition and military software would eventually rust in the warehouses.

Qamar Bashir
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2024