By IANS,
Toronto : Canada has hinted at lifting its embargo on the sale of weapons to Pakistan.
Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay, who is currently in Pakistan, told a Canadian newspaper that his government might soon end its 11-year embargo on the sale of arms to Islamabad.
“Doing military business in the future, and trade in particular, is something that is under consideration,” MacKay told the Toronto Star after his meeting with Pakistani President Asif Zardari.
Ottawa had imposed the embargo after Islamabad conducted its first nuclear test in retaliation for India’s Pokhran-II nuclear tests.
On Tuesday, the Canadian defence minister had announced restart of military training programmes with Pakistan.
MacKay, who just a few days ago described Pakistan as “the most dangerous country in the world” in view of the Taliban advances, expressed his satisfaction with Pakistan’s action against the Taliban.
“They are certainly a government that is taking control of this situation.
“Quite frankly, this is what the international community, including Canada, had been asking them to do all along,” the Canadian defence minister told the newspaper.
Canada has 2,700 troops in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province as part of the NATO forces.
It is worried about the increasing influence of the Taliban in Pakistan.