U.S. military aid to Pak. worries Delhi

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, OCT. 6. The likely resumption of U.S. military aid to Pakistan as a result of the waiver of all sanctions on Islamabad has evoked a sharp response here.

Official sources said the resumption of military aid would go contrary to India's national interests. Pakistan's track record on the use of U.S.-supplied weaponry had been unfavourable as this hardware, in the past, was used against India. ``These concerns continue to remain even today,'' they said.

Sources here differentiated between the economic sanctions against Pakistan from the restrictions imposed after the overthrow of democracy there. India had not opposed the lifting of economic sanctions largely imposed after Pakistan exploded a nuclear devise. ``We wish Pakistan well and do not find any reason to oppose the lifting of economic sanctions,'' they said.

But India sees as highly objectionable the resumption of military aid at a time when a global campaign against terrorism was under way. Pakistan appears to have `bargained' its way to resumption of military aid and it looks as if the world community has paid its `ransom' for Islamabad's support for the campaign against terrorism, the sources observed.

The flow of economic and military aid to Pakistan is likely to resume on account of the vote in the U.S. Senate to waive temporarily all sanctions against Pakistan for two years.

In a related development, the fallout of the terrorist attacks in the U.S. has upset the diplomatic schedule. The Chinese Premier, Mr. Zhu Rongji, has rescheduled his three-day visit to India from November 9. The Hungarian Prime Minister, Mr. Viktor Orban, and the South Korean President, Mr. Kim Dae Jung, have already cancelled their visits.

The Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Ilya Klebanov, who was to arrive this week, has also rescheduled his tour as he was supervising the recovery of the sunken Kursk submarine. The Russians had agreed to postpone this three-day visit to October 11 or 14. Mr. Klebanov is now expected to arrive on October 14, a month prior to the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee's visit to Moscow.

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