Canada won't be lifting its arms embargo to Pakistan, despite Defence Minister Peter MacKay public musing about doing so.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail earlier this week, MacKay said the Conservative government was "contemplating" ending the 11-year ban.
But that was quickly shot down by the government after India protested. There are also fears that weapons sold to Pakistan could make their way into the hands of the Taliban and could be used against Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.
"The concern would be it's a fragile state (and) there's always uncertainty where the arms go," Carleton University political scientist Elliot Tepper told Â鶹´«Ã½.
Canada banned arms sales to India and Pakistan in 1998 after the rivals tested nuclear weapons. But the Indian ban was lifted six years ago.
But the U.S. has been sending weapons to Pakistan to assist in the country's fight against the Taliban in Swat Valley, and Canada is under pressure to do the same.
"They are doing their best, they need all the help they can get, Canada is a long time partner and ally, why not help us," Tepper says is Pakistan's pitch.
Senior government officials told Â鶹´«Ã½ that MacKay received a political slap on the wrist for lobbying the idea in public and not behind cabinet doors. At the very least he will have raised resistance to the idea of selling arms to Pakistan.
MacKay is believed to already have butted heads with Prime Minister Stephen Harper over the Conservatives' treatment of former prime minister Brian Mulroney. However, MacKay made public comments downplaying any rift in the matter.
With files from CTV's Roger Smith
