Pakistan and India are Top Arm Buyers

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Pakistan and India are top arms buyers; US leads sales - Economy and Politics - livemint.com

Washington: The US maintained its role as the leading supplier of weapons to the developing world in 2006, followed by Russia and Britain, according to a US Congressional study. Pakistan, India and Saudi Arabia were the top buyers.The global weapons market is highly competitive, with manufacturing countries seeking both to increase profits and to expand political influence through weapons sales to developing nations that reached nearly $28.8 billion (about Rs1.34 trillion then) in 2006.
That sales total was a slight drop from the 2005 figure of $31.8 billion, a trend explained by the strain of rising fuel prices that prompted many developing states—except those that produce oil—to choose upgrading current arsenals over purchasing new weapons.
Pakistan concluded $5.1 billion in agreements to purchase arms in 2006. That total was followed by India with $3.5 billion in agreements and Saudi Arabia with $3.2 billion in deals. The combined value of arms sales worldwide to both developed and developing nations in 2006 reached $40.3 billion, a decline of nearly 13% from 2005.
In 2006, the US agreed to sell $10.3 billion in weapons to the developing world, or 35.8% of these deals worldwide, according to the study. Russia was second with $8.1 billion, or 28.1%, and Britain was third with $3.1 billion, or 10.8%.
The study uses figures in 2006 dollars, with amounts for previous years adjusted to account for inflation, to give a constant financial measurement. The report “Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations” was produced by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, an office of the Library of Congress, and presents a number of interesting observations linking arms sales and global politics.

Despite their claims for economic development , common man in both countries are bound to travel outside to find better livings. Both countries have failed to provide basic facilities to masses, yet both are not ready to accept each other and fight with their common enemy The Poverty. With passage of time, western and other powers have did what they could to keep the hostility between the two nations at its best, whenever their was a single effort to bring the two countries together it was sabotaged by the culprits of these powers, resulting pace in arms race between the two countries.

We the inhabitants of these countries may continue to lead a miserable life whereas leaders/politicians on both sides enjoy all the luxury life can offer…

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Re: Pakistan and India are Top Arm Buyers

What a waste of time and money on our part. Pakistan should be using it to build schools and medical clinics. India of course will spending it on sending Satellites into space.

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Care to detail how the US and Russia are to blame for the Kashmir conflict? The rigidity and unreasonableness of Pakistan continues it; the Indian opposition to the idea of Pakistan created it. Frankly, the world outside of South Asia cares little about Kashmir.

As to the article, is this surprising? Pakistan is at war and India is trying to keep pace as best it can with China's military build-up. Is the US/Russia/France responsible for the Chinese build-up as well in your view?

You speak as if the Indian and Pakistan economies are in the same position. One is rapidly growing and projected to become a superpower in 30-40 years; the other is stagnant and the nation facing the threat of disintegration. India has tons of foreign investment, Pakistan almost none because it is so unstable and has a large number of people opposed to any kind of relations with so-called "kafirs." The question Pakistanis need to ask is what did India do that Pakistan didn't? They both started from the same economic point, come out of the same colonial experience, have the same history, have basically the same culture (with the significant difference being religion), etc. There is no excuse for India to be rising and Pakistan to be where it is today.

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Re: Pakistan and India are Top Arm Buyers

The figures are three years old. It uses information from 2006 when we were not involved in the war on terror on our own soil.

Actually you are wrong. Factually Pakistan started off as Yemen or Sudan in terms of economic development. It had no fuctioning industrial base at all in the country. It was a purely an agrian economy with one port which was a good 20 years behind in development to the ports of Mumbai and others in the region.

To state that Pakistan and India started off at the same economic base is factually incorrect at best.

The Hi/Bye Thread
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I agree with you, we have spent billions of dollars in buying arms, these western countries provide us with loans and takes it back to sell us these arms and ammunition. By this method, they take their money back, and yet we have to write it as a loan in our books and pay an annual interest on it.

ٹائم پاس ماہ جون - Time Pass June 2014 - الوقت ممر يونيو
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Re: Pakistan and India are Top Arm Buyers

That is an interesting aspect of aid. All aid is packaged with terms and conditions that mean that you have to use US technology, US experts and get absolutely no Transfer of Technology (TOT) or training to the local population. Pakistan's debt now is over 50 billion dollars and it is increasing. One can thank Musharraf and Zardari for this level of stupidity. It is going to continue to increase with the current set up.

Pakistan wants to win against the Taliban, they need to abolish PATA and FATA. They need to move in fast with education and health services in areas where the military operations are complete. Do it by their laws and customs and cultural dictates. But get education there. Get health facilities there.

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I think you are one of the reasons of the hostility between the two..

Countries had conflicts in the past and the will have them in future as well, but few are to mention having stretched this much in the post WWII era.

Kashmir Conflict has became a Unique selling point for Russia and USA. These countries will never allow India and Pakistan to sit and re-solve this issue on the table, they will come up with a conspiracy every time there is any serious effort to solve it. The motive is obvious, who want to sabotage their arms market? nor Russia neither USA, so the conflicts still stand, will continue to stand, as much as we blame the western power for the conflict, more credit goes to our incompetent political leadership, these leaders just feed hate and war-mongering emotions on the both sides of the border. They have made it habit to have it as their winning edge in elections and to gain cheap publicity.

If you think India is rising star, then please tell this to many workers you are busting their back-side working on lowest possible wages in Gulf Countries, they are not in thousands but millions, every day news papers have stories of Indians being raped or killed or not being paid their wages. Undoubtedly the so-called rising India has scored 135th rank when it comes to human development.

Hiding your head in sand won't help, but i see that there is nothing else you have learned so far, no wonder India is where it is today.

Anyway the thread is not about India and Pakistan, it is about the on the spending priorities of both countries not to mention the kick-backs and commissions these political leadership get from these kind of deals

ٹائم پاس ماہ جون - Time Pass June 2014 - الوقت ممر يونيو
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Getting health and education their, the western interests may get hammered in long term, so it is not their yet, the reason i am saying western interest is that we (south asians ( indians will take another 10 years to learn this)) have the most pathetic leadership ever, and they only represent western or personnel interest.

So the question is should we continue voting for them???