The Hindu : National : Pranab to meet Left parties on defence pact with U.S.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 16, 2005

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Pranab to meet Left parties on defence pact with U.S.

Staff Reporter

"The pact will only widen relationship between India and the United States" "Our security forces are ever alert to prevent any ambitions that others might have"

BANGALORE: Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said the recent Indo-U.S. defence agreement would not jeopardise India's foreign policy. "The agreement will only widen the relationship between India and the United States," he told presspersons here.

Mr. Mukherjee said he would soon meet the Left parties to discuss the agreement, which was a broad framework of cooperation in the defence sector.

On the Left's opposition to the agreement, he said the issue had been discussed with Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India leaders. "I will also talk to the Revolutionary Socialist Party, the Forward Bloc and other Opposition parties."

"Very transparent"

The agreement, he said, was only an extension of the previous agreement signed in 1995, which lapsed this year. It was very transparent and all the related documents were available on the website.

To a query on China, he said he did not subscribe to the view that China was an enemy. Pakistan and China were friends. "We even have limited trade with them. But, we do have problems," he said.

`I am not a war-monger'

Earlier, handing over the final batch of the nine upgraded Jaguar aircraft to the Indian Air Force, Mr. Mukherjee said he had no intentions of triggering an arms race in the sub-continent. "I am not a war-monger. We have no territorial ambitions. We do not want to annex any part of any country. But we are vigilant to protect every millimetre of our motherland. Our security forces are ever alert to prevent any ambitions that others might have," he said.

Emphasising the need for modernisation and indigenisation of weapons, Mr. Mukherjee said the country's threat perceptions should be determined from within.

The country, he recalled, was denied access to technology for decades. "This was nothing short of anachronism. The international community is recognising this now. Many global manufacturing organisations now want to collaborate with us and are open to our suggestions of joint production and technology transfer," he said.

Mr. Mukherjee said India should have to find its own technological solutions, as it would be difficult to get them from other countries.

Kaveri engine

Referring to the delay in developing the Kaveri engine for the LCA, he said there was no need for anxiety.

He handed over the documents of a civil variant of the Advanced Light Helicopter, Dhruv, to Karnataka Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh. Karnataka had taken Dhruv on a wet lease from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

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