Author: Anil Narendra
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: July 21, 2000
According to recent reports
Britain has lifted the ban on arms sales and spares to Pakistan.
The British Foreign Secretary,
Mr Robin Cook, who had earlier led the chorus condemning the overthrow
of the elected government in Pakistan of Mr Nawaz Sharif, and imposed the
ban in the light of the coup d'etat, has been made to eat crow. This
is because the Labour Government believes that its decision, coming ten
months after the coup, is in line with its 'ethical' foreign policy.
The liberalised arms
sales policy for Pakistan was announced by Mr Cook in reply to a question
in the House of Commons. Ever since the coup all 46 applications
for export licenses to Pakistan from British firms had been blocked.
Now The Guardian has published a parliamentary written answer by Mr Cook:
The Government has considered the situation in Pakistan and the wider region
since the coup before deciding on a number of applications. We remain
concerned about the Defence exports to Pakistan, in the light of the ...
at Kargil, the coup, the possibility of diversion to undesirable end users
and continued regional tensions. Twenty license applications have
already been approved; more sales are expected soon. The Government
has also refused 26 license applications because the equipment sought by
Pakistan did not meet its criteria. Those applications that have
been approved, it is said, will be given to exports regarded as least contentious
and will include spares for ships and naval helicopters and planes.
The change in the arms
sales policy once again shows the British defence firms wield as much influence
on the Labour Government as they did on successive Tory governments.
After the coup in Pakistan, Britain did not formally impose any embargo
on military sales to that country but held up approvals. Even earlier,
it was said that requests for military equipment would be examined on a
case-to-case basis, and the situation in Pakistan would be kept under scrutiny.
According to a source in the British Foreign Office, the justification
for approval is that the decision has not been triggered by any one event
but if you take a look at what was happening in Kargil last year, we have
not seen a repetition, which is a fairly crucial indication of whether
there has been renewed aggression. So a certificate of good conduct
has seemingly been given by the British Foreign Office to General Pervez
Musharraf's military rule, ignoring the increased terrorist activities
in the Valley.
Ironically, it is the
same British Foreign Office which recently found Pakistan a threat to world
peace. The British Foreign Office Minister, Mr Peter Hain, recently
said: It is no good for the Pakistan Government to say they have no control
over third parties or private companies who sell nuclear material.
If they were determined to put a stop to this they could. He added:
When nuclear material falls into the hands of private armies and parties
it is a short step to getting into terrorist hands. There is a link
between Pakistan s exports of nuclear capability and terrorism. The
country is rapidly becoming a threat to world peace. This reaction
was based on a report in The Sunday Mirror which said that some 200 canisters
of uranium and plutonium, intended for missile warheads, were available
from Pakistani and Afghan war lords who have contacts with dealers in the
arms black market in Britain. Barely a month later, the same British
Foreign Office finds Pakistan a responsible country!
The decision came within
a day of the official visit to Britain by India's Defence Minister, Mr
George Fernandes, who had discussed India's problems related to the supply
of Sea Harriers and Sea King helicopters bought from Britain by India.
It is surprising that it has not occurred to the British Government yet
that it has not returned Indian Sea Harriers sent to Britain for repairs,
nor has it supplied spares for Sea Kings. The British Government's
volte face has stunned strategists and politicians alike in New Delhi,
and it is likely to trigger apprehension and distrust.
Britain says that permission
has been given only for specific items like naval spares, bomb disposal
equipment and goods for civilian end-users. However much Mr Tony
Blair's Government may want to take refuge behind technicalities, the fact
remains that the UK, which claims to be a crusader for democracy, has given
the military government of General Pervez Musharraf a legitimacy it had
itself denied. Is not the British Government aware that these arms
or supplies will be used by Pakistan against India?
If India's reaction to
the British decision has been muted, it is possibly because its priority
at the moment is to ensure that the price negotiations for the advanced
jet trainers (AJTs) are not disrupted. But India cannot ignore the
fact that this British decision, in one sense, ends the isolation of Pakistan.
If today Britain agrees to supply defence equipment to Pakistan, tomorrow
it might be some other country. With the changing political scene
in Kashmir, if Pakistan gets its military spares, these are going to be
used extensively against Indian security forces. It might, therefore,
be worthwhile for India to consider an alternate to the British AJTs.
Also the Government of India after closely monitoring the situation might
have to decide on an appropriate retaliatory policy.
Then, India must not
walk into a trap. Britain is yet to return the two Sea Harriers sent
to it for repairs. The reason, it says, is that the US has imposed
an embargo on sale of weapons and spares to India for its Pokhran nuclear
tests. If this logic is applied to the Hawk trainer, then this aircraft
too would come under the same category, as this aircraft is also fitted
with many US made parts. The Sea Harrier and the Sea Kings were also
fitted with US-made systems and subsystems. Defence Minister George
Fernandes has said that India has had to resort to cannibalising parts
from the other Sea Harriers and Sea Kings to keep the squadrons airborne.
This can only mean that the operational strength of Sea Harriers, the prime
strike component of India's fleet air arm, is being eroded at a rate equal
to the maintenance cycle.
Not long ago something
similar happened to Indonesia which too had purchased the same Hawk aircraft
that India proposes to buy. The US forbade the use of certain radar
and communications equipment installed in the Hawk manufactured by its
firms. The last six aircraft purchased by Indonesia were delivered
only recently, ferried by ship and without radar and communications equipment.
Indonesia is now having to look to other sources for these two types of
equipment.
Students of history will
remember Britain's double- facedness. The partition of India was
part of its divide and rule policy. Today it has become a haven for
political exiles of all hues. Many a terrorist movement is being
organised and run from British soil. Because of this Britain is sometimes
itself a target of terrorist activities. Recently, suspected terrorists
killed Britain s defence attache in Athens. The victim identified
as Brig. Stephen Saunders was shot in the head as he drove to work.
His death is still a mystery. But in a place like Greece, where terrorism
is comparatively unknown, a murder of this kind must have a background.
Is the janus- faced firangi getting it back in his own coin?
