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Pak. concerned over Arrow missile sale

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD MARCH 4 . Pakistan has conveyed to Washington its `concern' over Israel's proposed sale of U.S.-made Arrow missiles to India on the plea that it will threaten regional security.

The Pakistan Defence Minister, Rao Sikandar Iqbal, through the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs informed the National Assembly on Monday that the Government was fully aware of the fact that Israel had shown interest in selling Arrow missiles to countries such as India and Turkey.

It was pointed out that the Indians were highly interested in acquiring them.

Since the Arrow was a joint production of Israel and the United States, the latter's clearance was required before sale to any third country.

The Arrow is designed to intercept incoming missiles and destroy them in the air. In recent years, particularly since the warming up of relations between New Delhi and Washington during the second term of Bill Clinton, Islamabad has repeatedly expressed its concern to Washington over the reported sale of defence equipment to India.

The House was informed that the State Department had not granted clearance to the missile sale due to possible infringement of the provisions of the missile technology control regime despite `campaigning by the pro-India' Congressmen.

The Minister told the Assembly that the Pakistan Government had taken up the matter with the U.S. Government.

``Pakistan is fully aware of the negative impact for regional security and is taking all necessary measures to meet the threat and safeguard its interests'', the Minister told the members.

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