RAWALPINDI – Pakistan is negotiating defense industry cooperation withRussia in the areas of aviation, air defense systems and anti-tankmissiles, spokesman for the Pakistani Army told Sputniklink inan interview yesterday.
“We are having the aviation, we are having the air defense, we are havingthe anti-tank domain, which we are negotiating. And that will be positivenegotiations,” Major General Asif Ghafoor said.
The spokesman declined to clarify which items were on the agenda of thetalks, but noted that Pakistan was open to various offers.
“Nothing is out. Anything and everything, which is possible to be purchasedby Pakistan, will be done,” Ghafoor said.
Ghafoor further noted that Pakistan would welcome Russia’s role inmediating the recently inflamed tensions between Pakistan and India. “Wewould welcome any third-party mediation, which can bring peace in theregion. And Russia is more than welcome.”
Defence cooperation between Russia and Pakistan has been on the rise.Russia has agreed to train Pakistani officers and has sold attackhelicopters to the South Asian country in recent years. The two Asiancountries have held two join counter-terror drills since 2014. At the sametime Pakistan-US cooperation waned, with Washington cutting military aidand suspending training programs.
The official said Pakistan valued Russia’s role in the Afghan settlementprocess and recognised Moscow’s importance in regional processes.
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“We greatly value the relevance and importance of Russia in the region,especially what role Russia has lately played toward the Afghanreconciliation… Russia looks toward balance of power and multipolarity inthe world. We value Russia’s voice as the voice of reason, and we wouldlove if Russia, being a powerful country, plays its role which enablesbringing peace in South Asia and beyond. And we expect that Russia will doit, as the efforts in fact being undertaken by Russia are generating goodresults,” the DG ISPR said.
Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated last month, after thePakistani military shot down two Indian warplanes in the disputed region ofKashmir, responding to an earlier airstrike by Indian aircraft against whatNew Delhi said was a camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad group, considered terroristsby India and located on the Pakistani soil across the so-called Line ofControl, separating India- and Pakistan- controlled areas of Kashmir.
The Indian airstrike came after a deadly attack by Jaish-e-Mohammad on theIndian paramilitary police force in Kashmir in mid-February. While Indiahas accused Pakistan of supporting the militants and having a “direct hand”in the incident, Pakistan, in turn, has rejected the allegations.
Russia has been actively engaged in resolving yet another regional issue –the peace process in Afghanistan. On February 5-6, the Russian capitalhosted the intra-Afghan conference on the peace settlement, which wasattended by a number of Afghan politicians, representatives of Afghandiaspora in different countries and a Taliban delegation. The Afghangovernment’s delegation was absent from the talks.
