After China and Turkey, which is the third country that is providing arms to Pakistan? Modi govt gears up to punish...
After China and Turkey, which is the third country that is providing arms to Pakistan? Modi govt gears up to punish...
There are three countries that increase the military power of Pakistan. Among those who supply arms to Pakistan, apart from China and Turkey, there is also a country whose name will surprise everyone. Netherlands, is the second largest supplier of arms to Pakistan after China. However, because of this, Netherlands may also have to face a situation like Turkey because India is its big trade partner.
Foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar is on a visit to three European countries, which include Denmark and Germany as well as the Netherlands. In the 6-day tour, he first reached the Netherlands on May 19. This is S. Jaishankar's first foreign visit after Operation Sindoor and he started his tour from Pakistan's second largest arms supplier, which is a very important thing.
Jaishankar expressed gratitude to Netherlands
Dr. S. Jaishankar wrote in a post on social media platform X after meeting the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Defense Minister of Netherlands, 'It was a pleasure to meet Prime Minister Dick Schof in The Hague today. I conveyed warm greetings from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thanked him for the firm stand of the Netherlands against terrorism.' He wrote, 'I appreciate his commitment to take the India-Netherlands partnership to new heights. I am confident that our teams will work hard to achieve these goals.'
It is true that Netherlands condemned the Pahalgam terror attack, but then it also urged India and Pakistan for a ceasefire. In such a situation, the question is what option does India have to break the connection between Netherlands and Pakistan. India can put pressure on Netherlands on the basis of its economic power to not give weapons to Pakistan.
How much trade does India do with the Netherlands?
India has a trade partnership of 22 billion dollars with the Netherlands alone, while Pakistan does only 15 billion dollars of trade with the whole of Europe, which can benefit India. Apart from this, the Netherlands wants to enter India's defense market and Delhi is also ready to give it this opportunity, so there are chances that the connection between the Netherlands and Pakistan can be weakened through economic power.
Will the Netherlands mess with India for Pakistan?
The Netherlands will also consider whether it should mess with such a big trade partner for Pakistan. It will also face the risk that if it continues to supply arms to Pakistan, it may end up in a situation like Turkey. Like China or Turkey, the Netherlands does not have any political preference for Pakistan, nor are its relations with India so bad that it should spoil things because of Pakistan.
Netherlands is Pakistan's second largest arms supplier
Pakistan gets weapons from three countries, of which China is the largest supplier, Netherlands is second and Turkey is third. 81 percent of Pakistan's weapons stockpile is Chinese, 5.5 percent weapons are from Netherlands and 3.8 percent weapons have come from Turkey. This is the data of five years from 2020 to 2024. If we talk only about 2024, during that time Turkey had supplied more weapons to Pakistan than Netherlands.
Netherlands provides weapons to Pakistan's Navy
Like the US, Britain and France, the Netherlands has also been providing weapons to Pakistan for years, most of which are for the sea. In the 90s, these countries gave four mine hunters to the Pakistan Navy. Mine hunters work to detect naval mines in the sea and destroy them. In 2021, Pakistan bought two more secondhand naval mine hunters and now the Netherlands is building more warships. In 2017, Pakistan had a deal with it, under which an agreement was made to build two patrol ships by a Dutch company.
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