Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Qamar Javed Bajwa, has said thatPakistan had to look for other sources when the West denied defenseequipment to Pakistan.
During the Question/Answer session of the Islamabad Security Dialogue, lastweek, the Army Chief said, “Many of the defense deals, which wereconcluded, have been canceled, So what do we do?”
The Army Chief quoted the example of Pakistan’s purchase of T1-29helicopters from Turkey, which was canceled when the US refused to allowthird-party certification
“Similarly, Germany refused to provide Pakistan engines for submarines andFrance too did the same under pressure from India, which is a big buyer (ofFrench weapons),” he recalled.
General Bajwa said it was the US’ responsibility to maintain the balance inthe region.
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If you are tilted to one side outright, we will have to find sources to getweapons to save ourselves. So you [the US] need to carry out introspectionwhether your policy is right or not.
The Army Chief continued, “We have been your allies for a very long time,we were part of the SEATO, CENTO & Baghdad Pact, we supported you inVietnam, we supported you in Afghanistan, we helped you dismantle theerstwhile Soviet Union and the muck you created yesterday we are trying toclean that. So we have paid a lot of cost. What are you doing about us? Imust ask you the question.”
To a question, the Army Chief said that Pakistan wanted good relations withthe United States, but not at the cost of others. He made it clear thatPakistan was not looking for camp politics, rather it would prefer tomaintain a balance.link