India clears Mirage upgrade deal, Paris turns down Pak
05 Apr 2010
New Delhi: With India reportedly finalising a $2.2 billion deal with France to upgrade its fleet of Mirage 2000 fighters, reports now suggest that France may have put its plan to sell $1.6bn worth of similar military equipment for Pakistan's China-supplied JF-17 'Thunder' fighters on hold.
It is implied that the suspension of French plans to supply equipment to Pakistan may have been made under ''Indian pressure.''
"It's a deal that's not ready from the Pakistani side. For now, the state of the dossier doesn't allow us to carry on with it," sources at French president Nicolas Sarkozy's office said without revealing much detail.
Earlier, one of France's leading newspapers, Le Monde had reported that the Sarkozy administration had decided to suspend sales of electronics and missiles, under the first part of a six billion euro deal signed with Islamabad, heeding an Indian request.
The newspaper also said that Paris was also concerned whether Pakistan would be able to pay-off the huge amounts involved.
It was also, reportedly, concerned over the safety of the sophisticated technology being provided to Islamabad, which was insisting on assembling the equipments on its soil.
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