The under-fire Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan wrote a letter to leaders of Muslim states to “act collectively to counter the growing islamophobia in non-Muslim states especially in the western states”. The sole reason was the grandstand that Emmanuel Macron has taken to stem radical Islam from its roots and protect the French lacite. Pakistan, along with Turkey, two of the authoritarian Islamic states have criticized the French President. Turkey is already feeling the consequences and now it’s time for Pakistan to suffer.
France is one of the largest Arms exporters in the world after the United States and Russia. Together the three of them constitute 63.9% of all arms exports. While Russia and the United States have already made their intentions clear on not selling arms to the terror state of Pakistan, France can become the next. Imran Khan’s criticism of Manuel’s breakdown of radical Islamic elements in France will not sit well within the French hierarchy and with relations already on their last strand due to Pakistan’s involvement in the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict, penalties will be imposed.
According to a study titled “Trends in International Arms Transfers, 2019. France is the third-largest arms exporter in the world and the biggest in Europe. Together with the top three states which include the United States at the top and Russia at 2nd, constitute 63.9% of all arms exports in the whole world. Coincidentally they also share the virtue of not exporting arms to Pakistan.
France’s relation with Islamabad has hit new lows after Imran Khan’s criticism. France, which is the third-largest Weapons exporter, has not sold any military equipment to Pakistan since 2011 when France halted the sale of $1.6 billion of military equipment on insistence from India and concerns over Pakistan’s ability to pay for the deal.
With the latest outburst against the French President, Imran Khan just made sure that any future military deal between the two states is now next to impossible. Imran Khan, acting on the behest of authoritarian Turkish leader Erdogan, criticized the French President Emmanuel Macron in a series of tweets and even called back the Pakistani ambassador to France in retaliation to France’s decision to call back its ambassador from Turkey after Erdogan made derogatory remarks concerning the “mental health” of Emmanuel Macron.
Tensions have been high in the US’s relationship with Pakistan. The United States has accused Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism and providing shelter to terrorists. The issue was sorely highlighted when US troops killed Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad near a military training academy. Since then US arms exports have come down a massive 76% and now the United States only supplies spare parts to Pakistan for weapons it already has on a case-by-case basis.
Furthermore, The Trump administration has good measures cracked down severely on Pakistan’s terror harbouring policies and criticized the state for sponsoring terror activities around the world.
India’s all-weather ally Russia reiterated its statement “that it will not sell arms to India’s enemies”. Russian Defence minister Gen Sergey Shoigu announced that Moscow will not be supplying arms to Pakistan and any deal with Islamabad is next to impossible. The announcement was made in September of this year when Indian Defence minister Rajnath Singh met with his Russian counterpart.
In the past, Russia was supplying half a dozen military helicopters to Pakistan but quickly pulled out of the deal when India objected. Moreover, Russia rejected Pakistan’s request to buy new-generation Kalashnikov rifles, commonly known as AK.
Russia’s latest snub to Pakistan is concerned with the Pakistani involvement in the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict. Armenia, a close ally of Russia, has claimed that in its conflict against Azerbaijan, Turkey and Pakistan have sent their troops against Armenia. Turkey and Pakistan have been arming Azerbaijan in its war against the Christian-majority state of Armenia. Islamabad’s pro-Islamic stance in the war and getting actively involved in the conflict has upset Russia and its leaders in Moscow.
After moving down the list, Germany which is the 4th largest arms exporter may even suspend its arms deal with Pakistan over what it believes is “a sharp increase” in Pakistan’s illegal efforts to procure nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons technology. The bonhomie shared between the French and German leaders will not be good news for Pakistan.
The only country in the top 5 that deals with Pakistan is China. Pakistan incidentally constitutes 35% of all of China’s weapons exports. But the issue with Chinese exports is that they are untested and untried on the battlefield. Therefore, Pakistan, which is always involved in one or other military conflict, has been turned into a guinea pig for China to test their arms and pieces of equipment on the battlefield. China holds major control over Pakistan’s economy and also on the military with its arms exports and sincerely turning it into a puppet state in South Asia.
In response to such control, Islamabad turns a blind eye to China’s genocide of the Uighur Muslims. Therefore, Imran Khan’s latest attacks are just outbursts that nobody seems to really care about and in the long run, will only further Pakistan’s dependence on China with no way out.
