JohnS Posted September 15, 2003 Group: Royal Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 193 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,459 Content Per Day: 0.18 Reputation: 5 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/28/2002 Status: Offline Birthday: 09/20/1965 Share Posted September 15, 2003 http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?t...storyID=3439913 Pakistan Wary of Israel Military Aid to India Sun September 14, 2003 07:08 AM ET By Scott McDonald COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - Pakistan warned Sunday that it would do whatever was needed to match any advanced weapons systems Israel may sell to nuclear neighbor India. Pakistan has voiced concern about Israeli help for its rival, especially after a visit to India last week by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon raised prospects of closer defense ties between the two. "We will do whatever is required to make sure that the minimum credible balance is maintained. We've done that for 56 years," Pakistan Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri told Reuters. He called on the United States "to prevent Israel from trying to introduce newer weapons systems into South Asia because we will match, we will create a credible deterrence come what may." Kasuri was in Colombo to deliver an invitation to a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Islamabad in January. Ties between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, which nearly went to war for a fourth time last year, have improved slightly in recent months but concerns remain over continuing bloodshed in disputed Kashmir. Sharon's visit was expected to advance defense deals, including the sale of an Israeli airborne early warning radar system worth more than $1 billion that would put large parts of Pakistan under Indian surveillance. India also wants to buy the $2.5 billion Arrow anti-ballistic missile system from Israel, but has yet to win U.S. approval. Kasuri will visit India next month to invite Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to the January meeting, but did not know if he would meet his Indian counterpart, Yashwant Sinha. Sinha was quoted in the Hindustan Times newspaper Sunday as ruling out talks with Pakistan unless it stops what he called "cross-border terrorism," saying the military regime in Islamabad was a stumbling block to peace. Kasuri said he hoped to meet Sinha. "The ball is in India's court, wherever I have gone I have meetings. It makes eminent sense to talk," he said. India accuses Pakistan of backing Muslim militants crossing into Indian-administered Kashmir to join a separatist insurgency there, and has linked fresh talks to an end to the attacks there. Pakistan denies the accusations. Twenty-eight people were killed Saturday in Jammu and Kashmir -- the highest one-day figure in two months. Kasuri also repeated Islamabad's concerns that conditions were not right to send Pakistani troops to Iraq, as requested by the United States. Pakistan wants a stronger U.N. mandate and for other Muslim countries to also send troops. "This sort of thing will make it more acceptable to our people," he said. Besides Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India, other SAARC members are Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. The 12th SAARC summit was postponed from last January after India declined to go because of tension with Pakistan. There are hopes January's meeting will take place after the two recently restored full diplomatic links and resumed a cross-border bus service that was suspended after a bloody December 2001 raid on the Indian parliament that India blamed on Pakistan-based militants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile21 Posted September 16, 2003 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 21 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 711 Content Per Day: 0.09 Reputation: 7 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/04/2003 Status: Offline Share Posted September 16, 2003 I'd like to say I'm shocked but I'm not. Sharon will do anything -no matter how insane- just to keep his political relevance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted September 16, 2003 Group: Royal Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 193 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,459 Content Per Day: 0.18 Reputation: 5 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/28/2002 Status: Offline Birthday: 09/20/1965 Author Share Posted September 16, 2003 Political relevance????? A nation the size of New Jersey is the center of attention of the whole world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile21 Posted September 17, 2003 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 21 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 711 Content Per Day: 0.09 Reputation: 7 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/04/2003 Status: Offline Share Posted September 17, 2003 In this case the center of attention are Sharon's bad deeds, not the nation of Israel . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted September 17, 2003 Group: Royal Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 193 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,459 Content Per Day: 0.18 Reputation: 5 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/28/2002 Status: Offline Birthday: 09/20/1965 Author Share Posted September 17, 2003 Hmmm....seems to be a lot of that going around lately. We shall see. What's the pope have to say about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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