NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD, 11 January — India plans large-scale war games along its tense border with Pakistan, as both sides play down hopes that a keenly awaited speech by Islamabad will ease tensions between the two countries. And in an announcement likely to raise hackles in India, Pakistan yesterday said it had received 10 fighter aircraft from China but insisted the deal was unrelated to the current standoff between Islamabad and New Delhi that has brought the nuclear neighbors to the brink of war.
Pakistan also said it would take more steps to curb militant violence and hoped international intervention could defuse the bilateral tensions. But Pakistani Army, now fully deployed on the border according to top military officers, was ready for war if necessary. "We don’t want war but we should be prepared for war," Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmad Khan told a news briefing in Islamabad.
"The entire international community has called for de-escalation, the entire international community is urging India to withdraw its forces," he said. Under mounting international pressure to curb Islamic extremists in the wake of an attack on India’s parliament last month, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is due to announce new measures against Kashmiri militants in the next few days.
Defense officials in Islamabad said they had received the first batch of 40 Chinese-made F-7PG fighters in December and the rest would be delivered this year. "The delivery of the planes and the deal itself have no connection at all with the current crisis between India and Pakistan. It was a deal which was made early last year," one official said. Pakistani officials also denied local press reports that China had supplied new defense equipment to Pakistan to bolster its capability in the current standoff with India.
India’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Nirupama Rao, said the reports of the delivery of the planes was an "issue of concern for us". India will take steps to safeguard its security concerns, she added.
Ms. Rao said the reports of the delivery of the planes was an "issue of concern for us". India will take steps to safeguard its security concerns, she added.
