Himalayan News Service

Lahore, July 4:

Pakistan could lodge a protest against the new India-US defence agreement if it has any “reservations” after studying the fine print, said Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri. Kasuri said Pakistan would not raise “unnecessary protest” over the matter, reports Online news agency. If the defence pact destabilises the strategic balance in South Asia then Pakistan would raise the matter with the US. At a press briefing here yesterday, the foreign minister said Islamabad would not raise the issue like India had done when the US

announced it was giving Pakistan F-16s and other defence equipment “because we are confident of our defence, which is impregnable”. “And as far as the matter of the India-US defence pact is concerned it is a matter between two sovereign nations,” he said. India and the US June 28 entered into a 10-year landmark defence agreement to facilitate joint weapons production, cooperation on missile defence and transfer of technology.