Arif N Pervaiz, an eminent environmentalist and independent consultant, said Washington would not be of any help in resolving the water dispute with India. “No third country can solve a bilateral water dispute between India and Pakistan.” There are apprehensions among peace activists in Pakistan that acquiring sophisticated weapons from the US would escalate the arms race between two nuclear-powered South Asian neighbours who have fought four unproductive wars since achieving Independence.
Executive Director of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Karamat Ali recently said that the “permanent establishment” in the two neighbouring countries do not want peace in the subcontinent. Since the Mumbai carnage, he said, the US had sold armaments worth $15 billion to both Pakistan and India and it seemed that the two countries were now the main buyers of weapons from the superpower.
Ali said that there was a five-to six-fold increase in conventional weapons after Pakistan and India tested nuclear bombs, despite the fact that it was propagated that a nuclear bomb would be a “deterrent”.
But Pakistan’s top defence analyst and scholar Dr. Hasan Askari-Rizvi rejected the notion that in the current situation the subcontinent might witness an escalation of the arms race between the two South Asian neighbours.
“The military assistance from the US will not start an arms race between Pakistan and India because India is obtaining weapons keeping in view its requirements and Pakistan is also acquiring equipment primarily to cope with terrorism pressures,” he told TSI.
Dr. Askari-Rizvi agreed that the “strategic dialogue” between Pakistan and the US has been “reasonably successful” in addressing the issues between the two countries.
“They have agreed on a framework for pursuing bilateral relations, including the Afghanistan problem,” he said. “The US is now shifting the focus towards long-term socio-economic development of Pakistan while keeping the security concerns in mind, war on terrorism and upgrading the military,” he said.
Executive Director of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Karamat Ali recently said that the “permanent establishment” in the two neighbouring countries do not want peace in the subcontinent. Since the Mumbai carnage, he said, the US had sold armaments worth $15 billion to both Pakistan and India and it seemed that the two countries were now the main buyers of weapons from the superpower.
Ali said that there was a five-to six-fold increase in conventional weapons after Pakistan and India tested nuclear bombs, despite the fact that it was propagated that a nuclear bomb would be a “deterrent”.
But Pakistan’s top defence analyst and scholar Dr. Hasan Askari-Rizvi rejected the notion that in the current situation the subcontinent might witness an escalation of the arms race between the two South Asian neighbours.
“The military assistance from the US will not start an arms race between Pakistan and India because India is obtaining weapons keeping in view its requirements and Pakistan is also acquiring equipment primarily to cope with terrorism pressures,” he told TSI.
Dr. Askari-Rizvi agreed that the “strategic dialogue” between Pakistan and the US has been “reasonably successful” in addressing the issues between the two countries.
“They have agreed on a framework for pursuing bilateral relations, including the Afghanistan problem,” he said. “The US is now shifting the focus towards long-term socio-economic development of Pakistan while keeping the security concerns in mind, war on terrorism and upgrading the military,” he said.
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