Caveat Emptor!

History has a way of repeating itself as Pakistan is being pushed into the arms race, yet again. As recently revealed by the Russian news agencies, Russia has started delivering the first of the S-400s air defense system to India at the end of the year 2021, citing Dmitry Shugayev, the head of the Russian military cooperation agency. According to Mr. Shugayev, the deal was reached in 2018, which has now started bearing its fruits for India. Consequently, the move has created an imbalance of power in the South Asian region, since no country in the region other than India has the S-400 air defense system in its arsenal.

It is worth mentioning that India is at odds with all its neighbours such as Bangladesh, China, Nepal, Myanmar, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. With Bangladesh, India has had a litany of long-festering issues such as border disputes, trade tensions, ethnic disputes and migrant problems. With Nepal, India has had scores of unresolved matters such as territorial disputes, transit trade access issues, ethnic and political problems. This same goes with a country like Myanmar, which has had many unresolved issues with India related to bilateral trade, border settlement, diplomacy and regional politics. India has also had a number of unsettled issues with China that belong to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and territorial issues. With the Maldives, New Delhi has had trade and political problems while it is already grappling with Sri Lanka on various uncertain matters related to ethnic, religious, politics and trade.

With Pakistan, as everybody knows, India has been unfriendly from day one with hostile borders on all sides, be it Kashmir, the Punjab or be it Sindh. The scores of unresolved political and diplomatic issues between Pakistan and India are the chief concerns. Religious discrimination against the Indian Muslims is a significant source of worry for Pakistan. This shows that India is hostile and is in a war-like situation with all its neighbours. However, New Delhi enjoys a honeymoon period with the US, gaining gargantuan economic, political and diplomatic support from the US. Particularly after signing several defense agreements with the US, India has become a Major Defense Partner of the US and has acquired the latest lethal weapons, technologies, training, and technical know-how from Washington.

In the past too, India was supplied with heavy arms and ammunition from its foreign allies and partners and all such weaponry was primarily aimed at keeping Pakistan in check. The latest example was when India took on a miscalculated misadventure in Balakot in February 2019, using Israeli and American weapons and technologies against Pakistan, but faced a befitting reply from its neighbor and learned a bitter lesson too. In fact, India is getting support both from the US and the West, where China is being seen as an emerging threat to global peace and order, but it runs counter to the fact that India is primarily targeting none but Pakistan and the newly-acquired S-400 system poses a serious threat to Pakistan.

Having pushed the entire region into an undesired arms race, Pakistan is chiefly concerned about the move and is now weighing on its options to counter India and that at such a crucial time when the economy of Pakistan is in a shambles and the country cannot afford the luxury of acquiring more sophisticated weaponry. Although Pakistan is a peace-loving nation and believes in human welfare, it has to do away with India's S-400 incomparability.

Senator Ted Cruz, a member of the Republican Party, was the key figure, who introduced legislation to exempt India from sanctions under the 2017 CAATSA for buying the Russian S-400 system.

If truth be told, the US policies are always discriminatory since they imposed sanctions for Turkey's purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system, but have exempted India for the same move. In the similar vein, former US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Iran after leaving the Nuclear agreement but on the other hand, Trump allowed India to maintain its trade relations with Iran. American legislation is only meant for adversaries. Having lost trust and credibility, the discriminatory policies of the US may never sustain longer and will cause irreparable damage to America.

Pakistan will take all necessary measures to protect its vital national interests and is not scared of any formidable threat. Pakistan demonstrated its power and will in February 2019, and will do the same time and again whenever it is challenged by its enemy. India should not get it wrong when reading the caveat emptor warning.