India''s military spending a threat: Pak national security adviser
Islamabad, April 5
India's heavy military spending and acquisition of weapons threatens Pakistan and its efforts for regional peace, National Security Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Nasir Khan Janjua said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a seminar on ‘Pakistan's role in promoting global peace and security’, Janjua said Pakistan was a peace-loving country but its efforts to promote regional peace were hindered by "Indian desire to acquire military and strategic weapons", Dawn online reported.
He said the two nuclear-armed neighbours could not live in an environment of hostility, especially when they were both fighting terrorism on their soil.
"Western powers desire better relations with India due to a shared anti-China policy despite the fact that a peaceful region and world is in Chinese interest and China bears no ill-will towards any of these countries," said the former Lt General.
Janjua's statement coincided with the release of an annual report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), which listed the 15 nations with highest military spending.
India features No 6 on the list, up a rank from its position the previous year.
Data revealed by Sipri puts Pakistan's military expenditure in 2015 at $9.5 billion, higher than the previous year's $8.7 billion.
India's military spending in 2015, however, came in at $51.3 billion, an increase of 0.4 percent over the previous year. — IANS
