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Canada eyes arms sales to Pakistan

(Ahhhhhh you Indian...we can't even buy 303, you and your concerns..

Someone said : I don't know why India would be concerned - this country can't supply its own armed forces properly. How Canada managed to take on the Third Reich escapes me. )



BY CAMPBELL CLARK AND STEVEN CHASE

Ottawa — From Thursday's Globe and Mail, Thursday, May. 21, 2009 03:33AM EDT

India is raising concerns about Canada lifting a ban on arms sales to Pakistan, fearing the weapons would be aimed at them rather than at Taliban insurgents.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay said this week that Canada is “contemplating” whether it will end the 11-year-old ban on selling military equipment to Pakistan, as the government in Islamabad engages in a major offensive against Taliban insurgents.

A senior diplomat at the Indian high commission to Canada said India is worried about any foreign military aid to Pakistan.

“On the broader issue of overall foreign military assistance to Pakistan, it has been the experience that it has only been used to bolster Pakistan's military capabilities against India –and therefore has been a legitimate cause of concern for us,” the senior Indian diplomat said, speaking on condition his name not be used.

The official declined to say whether India will publicly oppose any Canadian decision to lift the ban on military exports to Pakistan. But when asked whether India objects, he said: “I think the conclusions to be drawn from this are fairly obvious.”

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh voiced similar concerns last month when he noted that military aid to Pakistan “has been used against us in the past,” as the United States prepares to increase its military aid to Pakistan to $400-million this year.

Canada banned military sales to India and Pakistan in 1998, after both tested nuclear weapons, raising tensions on the subcontinent. The ban against India was lifted in 2003.

But Canada continues to ban conventional arms sales to Pakistan while the United States and Britain lifted the bans as they sought allies after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Now, with Pakistan trying to wipe out the Taliban insurgents in the Swat valley and surrounding areas, after years of ambivalent efforts, the Canadian government is considering allowing arms sales – they cite items like flight simulators, night-vision equipment, drones, and components – to resume.

The United States, Canada and other Western allies consider Pakistan a key fault-line for international security and critical to efforts to defeat insurgents in neighbouring Afghanistan. But Pakistan's long-running tensions with neighbouring India have often gotten in the way.

Pakistan's army, the country's predominant institution, has always viewed India, not insurgents, as its main threat. There have long been concerns that the arms Pakistan buys or receives as military aid are for the Indian border, including weapons, like fighter jets, that are ill-suited to fighting insurgents.

The United States is now trying to lead a regional diplomatic initiative to secure Pakistan and Afghanistan, and a key goal is encouraging an ease of cross-border tensions with India so Pakistan can devote its efforts to fighting Taliban and al-Qaeda factions in the country.

“This is like throwing gas on the fire. Think about what this does in the region,” NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar said.

“The idea was to have some detente between India and Pakistan, to have India not distracted by Pakistan and Pakistan not distracted by India, so they can focus on the Swat valley, and the border regions with Afghanistan.”

Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae, however, said that resuming arms sales to Pakistan is something that Canada should consider, but cautiously, and after discussions with India and Afghanistan.

“There is certainly an argument that given our common interest in dealing with the Taliban, and what appears to be a renewed commitment from the Pakistan government, it's certainly very reasonable that we would be entering into discussions with their government at this point,” he said.

“You have to get into the weeds about what exactly is being requested and what is the anticipated use.”

However, Ken Epps of Project Ploughshares said history is littered with examples of regions being destabilized by arms trades that had logical, but short-term justification.

“This would be a classic case where by assisting the Pakistan government with equipment, it would make India more nervous, and then it would call on its suppliers to provide more equipment, and we'd have a regional arms race.”
India fears Canadian arms sales to Pakistan - The Globe and Mail
 
Bad old habbit of playing a cry baby! :disagree:

India has 33 infrantry divisions, 24 are on Pakistan borders...three armoured divisions and three mechanised divisions...all on Pakistan border...she outnumbers us in every field but still fears Pakistan!

I've never seen a regional power showing less faith in its own abilities and capacities. What a blow for Indian War Machine. :tsk:
 
Haha i agree with Neo wat a cry baby always crying always trying to block eveything that comes or way! plus Can doesn't have much to offer us anyways so i don't wat the crying is about this time ! once a baby always a baby. :lol: :disagree:
 
Musharraf told the media how India has stationed its army at the border.
Always when we are near a deal or a deal comes through, India is whining and crying, man they must be really coward to have no self-confidence. India is a whining nation which buys everything for itself but starts crying when its enemy gets arms :argh: We should try our arms on them to see how much they cry then ;)

PAK Army is getting new arms contracts

-> India: :cry::cry::cry:
->India's people: :angry:

Indian Army gets new arms contract

->Pakistan: :coffee:
->Pakistan's people: :pakistan:
 
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Ottawa denies plan to lift Pakistan arms ban

The Harper government is moving to shut down Defence Minister Peter MacKay's assertions that Canada is considering lifting a ban on arms sales to Pakistan — insisting there is no such plan.

A senior aide to Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said today that Canadian policy was unchanged, and the Conservative government would not remove the 11-year ban on selling military equipment to Pakistan.

“Canada's policy regarding military exports to Pakistan remains unchanged,” said Catherine Loubier, Mr. Cannon's communications director. “There are no plans to lift restrictions on the arms sales ban with Pakistan.”

Mr. MacKay told The Globe and Mailon Tuesday after meeting Pakistan's leaders in Islamabad that they had asked Canada to lift the ban, and Ottawa was considering it. “We're contemplating that,” he said.

But officials said today the government was not considering such a change, and no part of the 1998 ban on selling military equipment would be lifted in the foreseeable future.

The public contradiction of a senior government minister suggests Mr. MacKay spoke too soon as he sought to offer encouragement to Pakistan in its fight against Taliban insurgents. Legally, Mr. Cannon decides on arms-sales bans, but in practice, such decisions are made only with the Prime Minister's backing.

Mr. MacKay's comments have sparked concerns from India. A senior Indian diplomat in Canada told The Globe and Mail on Wednesday that his country was concerned because it believes Pakistan has in the past used military aid to beef up its border with India.

The two countries have long had tense relations, a dispute over the Kashmir region, and a spate of nuclear tests in 1998 that prompted Canada to ban military sales to both Pakistan and India. The ban against India was lifted in 2003.

Mr. Mackay made the comments as Pakistan presses a major offensive against Taliban insurgents in the Swat Valley and surrounding areas, reportedly killing 4,000 insurgents.

The Defence Minister said after meeting with Pakistan's president, prime minister, foreign minister and defence minister that he was encouraged the country seems committed to a sustained fight against the Taliban and elements of al-Qaeda.

The U.S. and other western allies have often criticized Pakistan for failing to mount sustained efforts to weed out Taliban insurgents who control border regions of Pakistan and cross the border to fight in Afghanistan.

Mr. MacKay applauded Pakistan's efforts, and said Canada was encouraging measures to better control the Pakistan-Afghan border, He also said that Canada had agreed to resume an officer-training exchange program with Pakistan's army.
 
Well Canada is a G8 member and an important contributor to IMF/World Bank. They have an important say in these forums and their word does count a lot.

It is smart to keep friends in your side, never know when they are required.
 
Haha i agree with Neo wat a cry baby always crying always trying to block eveything that comes or way! plus Can doesn't have much to offer us anyways so i don't wat the crying is about this time ! once a baby always a baby. :lol: :disagree:

India should muster some courage.
I bet it is never their army but the politicians that whine & cry!
What a shame for a country that has such a large force itself.
 
hey lockheed-F16 bro, i totally agree with the essence of your reply specially Your Pictoral depiction of reaction by pakistani and indian Govts and people, however, i think some of the words you used should have been replaced with more ethical words....no offence bro but thats what i think....
 
Thanks, but no Thanks !

Take a chill pill dude. I was only suggesting that Canada hasn't got anything concrete to offer as far as defence equipment is concerned. What's so bad in saying that?

We could however build a trade relationship with the Canadians. The Canadians always boast about willing to help Pakistan. Well, how about putting the mouth where the money is? Pakistan lags far behind in trade and commerce. No one has denied that Canada is a developed country. That's the reason why Pakistanis and many other migrants decide to live in Canada. That also includes many expatriates from developed countries by the way.
 
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hey lockheed-F16 bro, i totally agree with the essence of your reply specially Your Pictoral depiction of reaction by pakistani and indian Govts and people, however, i think some of the words you used should have been replaced with more ethical words....no offence bro but thats what i think....

Yes, I accept, just a nerve was touched. I changed it too more suitable version :enjoy: Anyway, the core of my opinion counts
 
Nothing they have that we need or can get from somewhere else.

Seems very like what you've said. They are now finding pretexts.

Canada won't be lifting arm embargoMay. 23 2009 10:07 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff


Canada won't be lifting its arms embargo to Pakistan, despite Defence Minister Peter MacKay public musing about doing so.

In an interview with the Globe and Mail earlier this week, defence minister MacKay said the Conservative government was "contemplating" ending the 11-year ban.


But that was quickly shot down by the government after India protested. There are also fears that weapons sold to Pakistan could make their way into the hands of the Taliban and could be used against Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. :angry:

"The concern would be it's a fragile state (and) there's always uncertainty where the arms go," Carleton University political scientist Elliot Tepper told CTV News.

Canada banned arms sales to India and Pakistan in 1998 after the rivals tested nuclear weapons. But the Indian ban was lifted six years ago.

But the U.S. has been sending weapons to Pakistan to assist in the country's fight against the Taliban in Swat Valley, and Canada is under pressure to do the same.


"They are doing their best, they need all the help they can get, Canada is a long time partner and ally, why not help us," Tepper says is Pakistan's pitch.


Senior government officials told CTV News that MacKay received a political slap on the wrist for lobbying the idea in public and not behind cabinet doors. At the very least he will have raised resistance to the idea of selling arms to Pakistan.

Source: MacKay's weapons to Pakistan idea shot down
 

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