‘Pakistan trying to sell small arms to S Arabia’
PM adviser says country aims to strike a balance in its relations with Riyadh and Tehran.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz. PHOTO: REUTERS
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz has admitted that Pakistan is trying to sell small arms and combat aircraft to Saudi Arabia. However, he added that every country sells arms and as Pakistan has a booming arms industry, there are no grounds for criticism.
In an interview with the BBC on Tuesday, when asked about sending arms to Syria, Aziz said there was no Syria-specific agreement at present. “It is very sad that some people are spreading rumours about a couple of countries who want to help Pakistan. Whatever the previous military regimes did with the money they received [from these countries] is history and has nothing to do with us. .”
Saudi Arabia had also helped Pakistan after the nuclear tests in 1998, he said but added that not even a single Saudi minister visited Pakistan during the tenure of the previous Pakistan Peoples Party-led government. Therefore, Pakistan wants to strike a balance in its relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran as ties with both countries have been at low ebb for the last five years, Sartaj explained.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif may visit Iran in May or June, he announced. “[Cordial relations with and between the two countries] are necessary for unity among the Muslim Ummah. The increasing sectarian divide is detrimental to the Muslim world.”
Elaborating on the country’s foreign policy, he insisted that it was independent. “We shall continue the policy of non-interference. We shall correct our internal matters,” the adviser said. “In the past, we interfered to serve the agenda of another country. We have been impartial and will remain impartial on issues that do not directly concern us.”
About the generous $1.5 billion aid, he said, “The previous government left a big difference in the government’s budget and the balance of payments. Pakistan really needed it.”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 2nd, 2014.