Article

2010-02-27 India-Pakistan

Indian military growth threatens South Asian stability, says Pakistan

NEW DELHI - Pakistan warned Thursday that India's huge military modernisation programme posed a serious threat to stability in a "nuclearised" South Asian region.

"New war doctrines, tremendous boost to the defence spending, induction of new sophisticated weapons systems, these are elements that are prejudicial to regional security and stability," Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said.

His comments followed talks in New Delhi with his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao -- the first direct discussions between the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals since the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

India, which last month inducted its longest range nuclear-tipped missile into the army, has plans to spend up to 30 billion dollars on its military by 2012.

India is scheduled to unveil its 2010-2011 defence budget on Friday, which was jacked up by 24 percent to 1.42 trillion rupees (28.4 billion dollars) the previous year.

Bashir described as "irresponsible," Indian army chief Deepak Kapoor's comments in December that India must be prepared to fight simultaneous wars on "two fronts" -- a clear reference to Pakistan and China.

India has fought three wars with Pakistan since independence in 1947 and a brief but bitter war with China in 1962 over a border dispute which remains unresolved.

"We have drawn the attention of the international community to the importance of preserving the regional balance between Pakistan and India," Bashir said.

"This is a nuclearised region and it is important that Pakistan and India engage meaningfully on the whole range of issues under regional peace and security," he added.

Posted by john frum 2010-02-27 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11131 views ] Top

#1 You ain't seen nothing yet, Salman.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2010-02-27 03:57|| 2010-02-27 03:57|| Front Page Top

#2 NEW DELHI, Feb 27 (Bernama) -- India pumped in a hefty US$32 billion (RM112 billion) for defence spending under its new 2010-2011 budget.

India, Asia's third largest economy, allocated about 2.4 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for military modernisation, largely to counter the constant security threats within the country and along its borders.

Posted by john frum 2010-02-27 06:30|| 2010-02-27 06:30|| Front Page Top

#3 Once we pull out of Afghanistan we must fully support India as they represent our ideals/values and not a bigoted nation like Pakistan who hate us more than we hate them!

Posted by Paul2 2010-02-27 07:00|| 2010-02-27 07:00|| Front Page Top

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