NEW DELHI: India will buy more than 160,000 guns worth $553 million fortroops on its disputed, high-altitude borders, the defence ministry saidTuesday.
The defence acquisition council cleared the purchase of 72,400 assaultrifles and 93,895 carbines for 35 billion rupees ($553 million) in ameeting chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The weapons will be bought to “enable the defence forces to meet theirimmediate requirement for the troops deployed on the borders,” the ministrysaid in a statement.
New Delhi has signed several big-ticket defence deals since Prime MinisterNarendra Modi stormed to power in 2014.
India — the world’s largest defence importer — has been investing tens ofbillions in updating its Soviet-era military hardware to counterlong-standing territorial disputes with its nuclear-armed neighbours Chinaand Pakistan.
India and China fought a brief war in 1962 over their border and last yearwere involved in a months-long showdown over a disputed Himalayan plateau.
India is also mired in conflict in the Himalayan region of Kashmir whereroughly 500,000 soldiers are deployed.
New Delhi accuses Islamabad of sending “terrorists” across the border — oneof the most heavily militarised in the world — to fight security forces inIndian-administered Kashmir.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end ofBritish rule in 1947, with both claiming the territory in its entirety.
India has fought three wars against Pakistan, two of them over the controlof Kashmir. – AFP