FO: Pakistan neither supplied arms to Ukraine nor intend to do so

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday, while rejecting the notions of any discussion on arms supply between the defence ministers of Pakistan and Ukraine during their telephonic conversation, said the country neither supplied arms to Ukraine nor intended to do so.

Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, in a statement, clarified that as a matter of policy Pakistan did not supply arms to a region in conflict.

“It (Pakistan) has not supplied nor does it intend to supply any arms to Ukraine,” she added.

“This topic, therefore, was not discussed during the telephonic conversation between the ministers of defence of Pakistan and Ukraine on November 7, 2023,” she remarked.

The spokesperson said that Pakistan had stressed the need for a negotiated solution to the conflict in Ukraine.

Back in September, The Intercept, an online American nonprofit news organisation, had alleged in a report that Pakistan had sold weapons to Ukraine to get IMF bailout package for the country.

The Foreign Office had rejected the news story as “baseless and fabricated”.

“The IMF Standby Arrangement for Pakistan was successfully negotiated between Pakistan and the IMF to implement difficult but essential economic reforms. Giving any other colour to these negotiations is disingenuous,” the FO had said.

“Pakistan maintains a policy of strict neutrality in the dispute between Ukraine and Russia and in that context, does not provide any arms and ammunition to them. Pakistan’s defense exports are always accompanied with strict end user requirements,” the FO spokesperson had added.