Re: Pakistan and Chechnya

[Chris Doss <lookoverhere1@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- Chris Doss <lookoverhere1@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> In view of the recent discussion that brought up
> alleged ties between the ISI and Chechen militants,
> I
> thought this might be of interest. This is from a
> Chechnya-themed news server I subscribe to. CD

This is also of interest. From the same list.

Editorial Views Russian Refusal To Export Military
Hardware To Pakistan
Lahore Daily Times (Internet Version-WWW) in English
11 Jul 04

[Editorial: "Building trust between Pakistan and
Russia"]

    Pakistan's foreign minister, Khurshid Kasuri, was
in Moscow on Friday where he met with his Russian
counterpart Sergey Lavrov. The important news that
emerged from that meeting is Lavrov's refusal to
export Russian military hardware to Pakistan. Mr
Lavrov was also reported to have said that Russia's
defence ties with India posed no danger to the
military balance of power in South Asia.

    Mr Lavrov has a right to refuse military hardware
to Pakistan because Russia, as a sovereign state, is
free to determine its own interest. But his assertion
that Russian defence ties with India do not upset the
military balance in South Asia is patently wrong and
self-serving.

    India has had a long relationship with Moscow.
Since Pakistan and India have been adversaries since
1947, Pakistan cannot begrudge India its current
advantage with Russia. However, given the situation in
South Asia currently, Russia should play a more
responsible and even-handed role. The Russian
president, Vladimir Putin, has voiced exactly such a
desire in the past. But to do that Moscow will need to
factor in Pakistan's concerns and requirements. But
this is not the impression we get from Mr Lavrov's
post-meeting statement.

    For its part, Pakistan needs to understand that it
cannot hope to bring relations with Russia on an even
keel in the short-term. It is going to take some time
before the old scars are healed. There are still
elements within Pakistan who are linked to the Chechen
cause. This adds to the problems. General Pervez
Musharraf and Mr Kasuri are both going around with a
shopping list for military hardware. But approaching
Russia on this score is not likely to be very
productive. Russia may be in need of hard cash but it
is still heavily influenced by India. Also, making a
deal with Russia does not mean much since Moscow has
not been able to supply the goodies even after it has
made the deals with other countries. The issue is
complex for a number of reasons. The effort at this
point should be to simply try and normalise relations
and build trust and confidence.




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