Pakistan fears more tension with India

Pakistan fears more tension with India
REUTERS

Islamabad, March 1: Pakistan today said that it feared increased military tension with India after the Central Government raised defence spending by almost a third.

``This (military) activity may, with this latest hike in the war budget of India, lead to more aggressive action and posture by the Indian Government, and in fact, I am afraid we might see some military escalation,'' foreign ministry spokesman Tariq Altaf told Reuters television in an interview.

He said India had stepped up military and diplomatic efforts against Pakistan ahead of US President Bill Clinton's visit to South Asia later this month.

Altaf said Indian military activity at the Line of Control (LoC) and a $ three billion increase in defence spending was worrying for Pakistan.

``...This is the largest single ever increase in the Indian military budget... The point noteworthy is that this increase is by $ three billion, which is the entire Pakistan defence budget,'' Altaf said.

Altaf said India's increased military spending reflected its aggressive posture and was primarily aimed against Pakistan.

Altaf said India's increased military spending relflected its aggressive posture and was primarily aimed against Pakistan.

Altaf said India was trying to keep Clinton away so that he could not use his influence to promote ``peace and security'' in the region.

``Our reading is that they have been trying to scare away the President from any thoughts of trying his hand at promoting peace and stability in this region and trying to show to President Clinton that they have a different agenda here and therefore he should not try any facilitation role for the resolution of the core dispute (Kashmir) or any kind of role which promotes peace and stability in the region,'' Altaf said.

``They (the Indians) are primarily trying to send a message to the USA that we are the dominant power and we are trying to establish our hegemony here,'' he said.