BRUSSELS, Nov 6: Pakistan’s foreign minister on Thursday condemned Israel’s decision to sell airborne radar systems to India, saying it would destabilise both the Middle East and Southern Asia and warning Islamabad would respond in kind.

Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri urged the international community to put pressure on both Israel and India over the deal to sell three Phalcon airborne early warning radar systems to the Indian air force.

“It will destabilise the whole region, not just South Asia (but) including the Middle East. It is very, very dangerous,” he said during a visit to Brussels.

“India should desist from introducing yet another new generation of weapons system. If it does that we will be forced to match... Only a very foolish government in Pakistan would take a sleeping pill and go into a long slumber.”

He said Pakistan, would be forced to react even though “it will mean greater poverty for the already poor people of South Asia”.

“So the world community must apply pressure on Israel and on India to not introduce yet another dangerous new generation weapons system in south Asia,” he said.

Last month India signed a deal with Israel to buy three Phalcon radar systems and an accord with Russia to purchase aircraft that will be equipped with the airborne radars.

Mr Kasuri insisted Pakistan did not want an arms race with its much larger neighbour.

“We are not an arms race with India. We have decided to have a minimum deterrent,” he said.

The minister, speaking after meetings with EU officials, said the world needs to do more to help avoid a new war between the nuclear neighbours, whose dispute over Kashmir has been called the world’s most dangerous flashpoint.

“We need the engagement of the international community and we need it very badly,” he said. “If war is to be avoided between India and Pakistan in the long run ... we will need the support of the international community.”

“Last year we avoided a war luckily. We can’t play with luck all the time,” he added.

Addressing diplomats and journalists in Brussels, Mr Kasuri meanwhile warned world leaders against forgetting about Afghanistan amid the current upsurge of violence and concern over Iraq.

“The Americans say they have not at all forgotten Afghanistan,” he said. “But you know sometimes perception is more important than reality,” warning of the danger of a resurgent Taliban in the still hugely unstable country.

SEMINARIES:Pakistan’s Islamic seminaries, are signing up to a scheme to extend teaching beyond religious subjects in an effort to root out extremism, the foreign minister added.

He said Pakistan was encouraging the seminaries, or madrassahs, to accept state cash to teach more subjects, in a drive to limit the appeal of the Taliban and other extremist groups.

The madrassahs are popular with the poor as they offer free education and sometimes free board, but the government has become concerned that some are hotbeds of fundamentalism.

“The only way you can tackle such beliefs is by education,” Mr Kasuri told a conference here on Thursday. The government scheme encourages the madrassahs to teach subjects besides religion, such as English, computers and Pakistan studies.—AFP/Reuters