Author: Jawed Naqvi
Publication: Dawn, Karachi
Date: November 28, 2000
Israel announced a spy
plane deal with India on the eve of a rare Iraqi vice-presidential visit
to New Delhi from Monday as also right in the midst of sensitive peace
moves over Kashmir, raising eyebrows in both camps, official sources said.
"If it is a fact that
these unmanned planes are being provided (to India) it will not have a
salutary effect on the Kashmir situation," a former federal minister representing
occupied Kashmir told Dawn. "This will generate a perception that
Israel is dabbling in Kashmir."
A report from Al Quds
on Sunday quoted an Israeli defence official as saying the state-owned
Israel Aircraft Industries will sell remote-controlled surveillance planes
to India in a deal worth $250 million to $300 million.
"IAI is selling Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to India," said the official, adding that the planes
were slated for delivery starting next year.
Reports said the planes,
equipped with cameras, would be stationed in the Valley.
India established diplomatic
ties with Israel in 1992. Bharatiya Janata Party, which heads India's
ruling coalition, advocates a hardline approach to Kashmiri freedom fighters.
The BJP simultaneously favours a security tie-up with Israel, particularly
over occupied Kashmir.
However, Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee, shocked his party last weekend by announcing a unilateral
ceasefire against the Kashmiri Mujahideen groups. The irony was noted
by one Kashmiri group.
"On one side India is
perceived to have started a peace process. That involves confidence-building
measures," said Shabir Choudhry, heading the diplomatic cell in London
of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front.
"Is this the way to get
the trust of the people?," asked Choudhry, on a visit to New Delhi for
a peace conference on Kashmir.
"People will think this
is a Hindu-Israeli collusion against Islam. It's one step forward
and one step back. Are we back to square one?"
The Israeli move also
overshadowed the visit by Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan who
arrived in New Delhi on Sunday aboard an Iraqi Airways plane, defying the
UN air embargo in force since 1990.
"The announcement of
the (Israeli) information may have many motives," said retired air commodore
Jasjit Singh who heads India's premier think-tank Institute of Defence
Studies and Analyses. "That includes the occasion of the Iraqi visit."
Mr Singh, however, said
that the UAV's were a common technological necessity of most major military
establishments. "I am quite certain Pakistan also has some manner
of UAVs," he told Dawn. China has a clutch of these models from Israel,
a pioneer in the UAV technology.
