ISLAMABAD: Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif Monday said that Pakistan would explore other options to meet its defence needs if the F-16s deal with the United States does not materialize.
Talking to journalists after addressing an international conference he said that Pakistan was an independent and sovereign state and it could acquire defence related products from other suitable markets of the world.
The conference titled Refugee crisis and its ramifications for global and national security was organized by South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI) University in collaboration with the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON), National Security Division and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.
The minister said ups and downs in the bilateral relations of Pakistan and US were not an usual matter but the overall ties between the two countries were better. He said that US had provided the aircraft to other countries and halting its supply to Pakistan was tantamount to injustice with it. He also highlighted importance of F-16s for Pakistan in its ongoing fight against terrorism.
Answering a question Kh Asif said Shakeel Afridi was a citizen of Pakistan and he was being tried in Pakistani courts adding that no one would be allowed to interfere in internal matters of the country. He said durable peace in Afghanistan was of great importance for Pakistan adding that people of Afghanistan wanted to lead their lives with tranquility and harmony.
The minister said the process of repatriation of temporarily displaced persons of Waziristan was continuing at a fast pace. In the decade of 80s, Kh Asif said a large number of Afghan refugees came to Pakistan and were still residing here adding that Pakistan was playing a positive role in repatriation of the refugees and for peace and stability of the neighbouring country.
Earlier addressing the conference Kh asif said that Pakistan shared 2,560 kilometer porous border with Afghanistan with over 200 unfrequented routes which served as points for illicit trafficking of weapons drugs and humans. Around 24,000 people from Afghanistan are crossing from Khyber Agency alone per day and majority of them travel without any legal documentation, he pointed out.
He said while the world dealt with the Syrian crisis and its global ramifications no country in the world could understand better than Pakistan the implications of refugee crisis and its ramifications for domestic as well international peace and stability. He said the border management was a priority for Pakistan as it dealt with the challenge of trans border terrorism by the groups operating out of Afghan territory.
Hence where we recognize importance of the right of easement it cannot be extended to the entire Afghan population as 81.2 percent Afghans travel to Pakistan without any legal travel documentation, he said.
The minister said the prevailing security situation in Afghanistan remained challenging with the Afghan government facing a number of problems including an increase in opium production that helped finance the insurgency. On our part Pakistan is making sincere efforts in bringing the Taliban militant group to the negotiations table and supporting the quadrilateral Afghan peace talks but in the end it will be the Afghan government which will have to lead the process as it must be Afghan owned and Afghan led, he stressed. This is being done to help the Afghan government achieve lasting peace in the country, he added.
Referring to the threats by the Afghan military hierarchy to carry out hot pursuit actions in Pakistani territory, the defence minister said that any such action would get a befitting counter response.
In the interest of peace it is important that both countries should resolve their issue peacefully and through mutual consultation.In the regional perspective it is incumbent upon regional players to adopt a policy of co-existence and resolve disputes through peaceful means or joint bilateral mechanisms, he said.
The minister said the deterrence stability in South Asia was confronted by a multiple and grievous challenges ranging from new limited war fighting concepts in the shape of Cold Start Doctrine to acquisition of destabilising technology like Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system, nuclearisation of Indian Ocean and massive increase in India’s conventional defence spending over 80 billion against Pakistan’s little over 6 billion.
All these pushed the South Asian region towards perpetual instability unless and until the relationship is not stabilized through deliberate efforts, he added. The idea of Cold Start Doctrine is based upon the notion of in anticipation of strikes and calls for rapid deployment of Integrated Battle Groups. He said that India’s Cold Start Doctrine coupled with massive militarization force had the capability to increase the level of an arms race hence raising the level of minimum deterrence stability in the region.
However, Pakistan maintained the policy of credible minimum deterrence and full spectrum response as core policy option for stability of the nuclear deterrence in the region, he said.The defence minister said these developments in the neighborhood had compelled Pakistan to increase its reliance on nuclear deterrence and draft ambitious military strategies. The introduction of NASR short range ballistic missile system is one of the key elements of a Full Spectrum Deterrence (FSD) strategy. The FSD strategy is a response measure against the evolving threats mainly emanating from neighboring nuclear armed India, he said. In the contemporary world the concept of security transcended, the traditional concept of border security. Due to the increase in population in the underdeveloped and developing regions of the world we witness a more complex form of security paradigms emerging out of national and regional mindsets, the minister remarked.