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March 29:
Amid news of U.S. plans to sell F-16 fighter planes to Pakistan, India is looking for ways to upgrade its own military, according to the
India Daily. Indian officials like Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee have condemned the White House decision, warning that the delivery of the sophisticated jets to Islamabad would create a strategic imbalance on the Indian subcontinent and adversely affect bilateral relations between Indian and Pakistan. The BBC reports that, in response, New Delhi is moving forward with the purchase of 12 used French-built Mirage 2000 jet fighters, and is poised to acquire an array of additional military hardware – ranging from maritime surveillance aircraft to offshore patrol vessels.
March 30:
The U.S. State Department has catalogued a stinging indictment of Pakistan in its recently-released human rights report. The study, dubbed
Supporting Human Rights and Democracy, states that although Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has “repeatedly stated his intention to transform Pakistan into a moderate, democratic Muslim state,” amendments to the country’s constitution have strengthened his powers at the expense of the National Assembly. The diplomatic white paper also notes that Pakistan’s military heavily influences politics, and that the Pakistani judiciary is “corrupt, inefficient, and malleable to political pressure.”
Musharraf, the report concludes, has undermined the democratic process in Islamabad. “[P]olitically motivated prosecutions of opposition figures continue, as do concerns that opposition leaders or their parties are not always allowed to function
freely... Security forces have committed numerous human rights abuses, including extra-judicial killings and torture.” (The full report can be found online at
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/shrd/2004/index.htm).
March 31:
Growing regional terrorism and strengthening ties between regional terrorist groups have prompted Philippine Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales to order a close watch on Filipinos who have converted or studied Islam, the Agence France Presse reports. In a memorandum to the country’s National Bureau of Investigation and its immigration bureau, Gonzales warns about Filipino “students from Pakistan who studied in various
madrassa schools.” Such monitoring is necessary, Gonzales insists, “because intelligence reports show that some of the so-called (Islamic converts) become Muslim extremists and terrorists when they returned to the Philippines.”
April 5:
Indonesia and Australia have opened a new chapter in their historically rocky relationship with the recent visit to Canberra of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Australia’s
The Age newspaper reports. Yudhoyono’s consultations with Australian Prime Minister John Howard yielded a mutual commitment to a “comprehensive partnership” designed to increase bilateral contacts in trade, diplomacy and defense. “[T]he security, prosperity and stability of Indonesia and Australia are interconnected,” Yudhoyono told reporters following the signing of a formal framework accord codifying the diplomatic thaw.
In a step forward for Indonesia’s plans for military rearmament, the German government has offered to sell submarines to the Southeast Asian state. In comments carried by China’s
People’s Daily, a spokesman for the Indonesian Ministry of Defense has confirmed following meetings between Indonesian officials and German defense contractors that Berlin has offered Jakarta “a program to acquire submarines to strengthen our military equipment.” Exact details of the deal have not been disclosed, but the parameters of the agreement are expected to be driven by the Indonesian Navy.
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