ISLAMABAD, March 8: A high-level delegation of French Senators met the senior army authorities at General Headquarters (GHQ), Rawalpindi, on Friday and discussed with them various military purchases for Pakistan.
According to informed sources, the delegation, led by Mr Andre Duliat, Vice President of the Commission for Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces, discussed with the military top brass the purchase of Mirage Fighter aircraft and French Submarines.
Both the deals had not been finalised over the past many years but now, the sources said, both the sides “have expressed their willingness” to once again take it up and finalise it as early as possible.
The sources said Pakistan did not want to enter into a race with India for the purchase of military hardware but could not be unmindful of its defence needs. That was why the government was interested in expanding military cooperation with various countries, including France.
Since Pakistan felt disappointed during the president’s recent visit to the United States to acquire F-16 aircraft and their spare parts, the government was actively considering to go for French Mirage aircraft to enhance Pakistan Airforce (PAF)’s fighting capabilities.
Similarly, the sources said, Pakistan needed to strengthen its Navy to be able to remove Indian blockade of Karachi port in case of any eventuality for which the government intended to buy foreign submarines.
Pakistan, the sources said, had recently enhanced military cooperation for joint centres with a number of countries, including Turkey and Romania, for the manufacture of sophisticated arms including ammunitions for Al-Khalid Tank, T-85 Chinese Tanks and T-80 Ukrainian Tanks.
Military cooperation with Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom was also being enhanced to buy different kinds of new weaponry, the sources added.
The latest 4.8 per cent increase in the Indian defence budget (Rs650 billion for fiscal 2002-2003, April-March), the sources said, was a cause for concern. How long Islamabad could continue to keep its defence budget “static”, they queried.
India enhanced its defence budget by 28 per cent, 14 per cent and 4.8 per cent in 2000-2001, 2001-2002, 2002-2003 respectively. Pakistan’s budget for 2001-2002 contained Rs131.6 billion defence allocation which, according to the officials concerned, did not have any increase over last year and that, in real terms, it had decreased.