If India keeps increasing its military spending, Pakistan will have to step up its own weapons purchases to maintain defenses against its neighbor, an official said yesterday.

　　"We can't sit idly by as India presses ahead with an aggressive military buildup that targets Pakistan," the country's Foreign Office spokesman, Massed Khan, said at a news conference.

　　"We must maintain our credible deterrent, a strategic balance." He also said Pakistan will never allow its developing economy, and India's greater wealth, to reduce Islamabad's military spending in times of need.

　　Last month, India signed a US billion deal to buy Russian surveillance planes fitted with Israeli-made radar systems, a purchase that Pakistan sharply criticized.

　　The Israelis will buy the Russian-made Ilyushin-76 transport planes from Uzbekistan. They will be sent to Russia, where a new high-powered engine will be installed after structural modification. The aircraft will then be sent to Israel, where the PHALCON airborne early warning system will be mounted.

　　India and Pakistan have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947, including two over the disputed territory of Kashmir. Two years ago, the two nations nearly went to war again over the Himalayan region in battles along its border.

　　In 1998, India and Pakistan both tested nuclear weapons, generating concern around the world about a new arms race in South Asia.

　　Yesterday, Khan criticized India for repeatedly accusing Pakistan of arming separatist rebels entering India-controlled Kashmir and fighting for independence there. He condemned Indian forces based there for their treatment of Kashmiris.

　　Khan criticized India for refusing to grant visas to some Pakistani journalists who wanted to cover a meeting of regional information ministers in New Delhi, India's capital, saying the move exposed India's double standards.