JF-17 Thunder sale deal likely with five countries: Pakistan

LONDON:  Pakistan has almost finalised deals for the sale of its JF-17 Thunder aircraft, a low-cost multi-role fighter, with five countries and the agreements are expected to be signed very soon, Federal Minister for Defence Production Rana Tanveer told The News here on Wednesday.

The minister is visiting the United Kingdom in his capacity as the Chancellor of Comsat Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) to review a dual degree programme with the University of Lancaster. “With some of these countries, 90 per cent work on agreement has been completed but we can’t reveal the names of these countries before the signing of the agreements” the minister said after a reception in his honour hosted by the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) at Marlborough House here.

In the past, the media has reported Pakistan’s talks with countries including Egypt, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Myanmar, Morocco and Malaysia for the sale of the fighter jet, manufactured in Kamra by PAC in collaboration with China’s Chengdu Aircraft Corporation. The minister said the high quality of the aircraft coupled with its reasonable price was attracting a number of prospective international buyers who are in talks with the government on the purchase deal.

Earlier, speaking at the reception, the minister lauded the ACU’s role in promotion of education in countries like Pakistan. “Pakistan has long been associated with with the prestigious ACU. We have reaped multiple benefits from this association as a member country, for which I would like to extend our deep and sincere gratitude to ACU.”

He said the purpose of his visit was to explore innovative solutions and opportunities to help Pakistan respond to the growing demand of internationalised affordable higher education and to build capacities to respond to the global development challenges. He said COMSATs has been benefitting from the ACU scholarships, titular awards, participation in conferences.

The minister is also accompanied by Dr SM Junaid Zaidi, Rector of COMSATS,  Dr Qaiser Abbas, Director of the Comsats campus at Lahore and Dr Arshad S. Malik, head of the COMSATS International Office.

Comsats Rector Junaid Zaidi said he has offered 24 scholarships to the ACU on behalf of his institute so that students of Commonwealth countries could study in Pakistan. He said Comsats will re-start the dual degree programme in Pakistan after the conclusion of the visit. “The minister will discuss the issue with the Higher Education Commission” he said while referring to the HEC’s reluctance to recognise dual degrees of COMSATS Lahore Campus in the past. He said the HEC has not framed rules for the dual degree programme so Comsats had broken no law by awarding dual degrees to students. However, HEC Chairperson Dr Mukhtar had recently told a parliamentary panel that Comsats did not seek permission of the commission before starting its dual degree programme in 2010.

While asked why the foreign faculty was not invited to Pakistan to make the dual degree a real success, Dr Zaidi said foreign faculty is not required as Comsats has qualified and foreign-trained teachers. However, talking to The News on the issue, the minister, who is also the Chancellor of CIIT, said he will speak to the management of the Lancaster University about the possibility of sending their faculty to Pakistan. He said the terms and conditions of the memorandum of understanding signed between the CIIT and the British university will also be reviewed.