What Blair's calming influence really means!
purple | 12.01.2002 19:00
Below is a summary of the story from:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/armstrade/story/0,10674,631669,00.html
The government is mounting an intensive campaign to boost arms sales to India, including 60 Hawk jets worth £1bn, in spite of the danger of the India-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir spilling into war and destabilising the entire region.
The arms push comes only a week after Tony Blair visited India and Pakistan.
Ministers have been pressing India behind the scenes to clinch the contract.
John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, is scheduled to visit India next month for a conference on sustainable development but he is also expected to raise the Hawk deal, which he championed during a visit to New Delhi last year.
The head of the Indian army, Sunderajan Padmanabhan, said yesterday that the build-up of Indian and Pakistan forces along the border had brought the two "quite close to an actual war" and his country was ready for it.
A spokesman for the Pakistan high commission in London yesterday said Pakistan was "very concerned" at the arms build-up: "India has overwhelming support in conventional weapons.
India has increased its defence spending by 28% in the last two years whereas Pakistan has virtually frozen its defence budget in the same period.
Britain imposed an effective arms embargo on Pakistan three years ago.
Although the US lifted its arms embargo late last year after Pakistan helped the US in the war in Afghanistan, the Pakistan high commission spokesman insisted the British embargo was still in place, with requests for spare parts being delayed.
purple
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