With US President Donald Trump stating that his administration is paving the way to provide India with F35 stealth fighters, Pakistan on February 14 expressed concerns saying that the move will disrupt the regional military balance, undermine strategic stability, and hinder efforts to achieve lasting peace in South Asia.
A miffed Pakistan also urged its international partners not to take a “one-sided view that deviates from ground realities.”
During a weekly press briefing on February 14, a spokesperson for Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), said, “Pakistan is deeply concerned over the planned transfer of advanced military technologies to India. Such steps accentuate military imbalances in the region and undermines strategic stability.”
He added, “They remain unhelpful in achieving the objective of a durable peace in South Asia. We urge our international partners to take a holistic and objective view of issues of peace and security in South Asia and refrain from endorsing positions that are one sided and deviate from ground reality.”
On February 13, Trump addressing a joint press conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after their bilateral talks had said, “Starting this year, we will be increasing military sales to India by many billions of dollars. We are also paving the way to ultimately provide India with the F35, Stealth fighters.”
On being asked whether India agreed to purchase F-35s from America following Trump’s announcement, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told a press briefing, “On military sales to India, there is a process by which platforms are acquired. There is, in most cases, a request for proposals that is floated. There are responses to those. They are evaluated. I don’t think with regard to the acquisition of an advanced aviation platform by India, that process has started yet. So, this is currently something that’s at the stage of a proposal. But I don’t think the formal process in this regard has started yet.”
India and the US have unveiled a new initiative for their defence cooperation, the Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance (ASIA), aimed at scaling industry partnerships and enhancing production of autonomous systems which will foster next generation defence and technological collaboration, specifically in the field of underwater domain awareness.
India and US also discussed the expansion of military cooperation across various domains, including air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace, with an emphasis on enhanced training, exercises, and operations, incorporating the latest technologies.
Both leaders further highlighted the forthcoming “Tiger Triumph” tri-service exercise, which will be held in India and will be larger in scale and complexity than its previous editions. In terms of supporting overseas military deployments, India and the US committed to improving logistics, intelligence sharing, and force mobility in the Indo-Pacific.
These come under the “US-India COMPACT for the 21st Century” initiative launched by PM Modi and President Trump to drive change in “Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce and Technology” between the two countries.
The US President also announced the extradition of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana to India and said he will face justice.
“I am pleased to announce that my administration has approved the extradition of one of the plotters (Tahawwur Rana) and one of the very evil people of the world, having to do with the horrific 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack to face justice in India. He is going back to India to face justice,” Trump said.
Pakistani-origin businessman Tahawwur Hussain Rana was convicted for his role in the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai. Rana’s co-conspirators included David Headley, who pleaded guilty and cooperated against Rana.
(with inputs from ANI)
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