The Hindu : Front Page : No defence pact with U.S., assures PM

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

Front Page

Front Page

No defence pact with U.S., assures PM

Special Correspondent

KOLKATA: : The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, has reportedly assured leaders of Left parties that India has not entered into any defence agreement with the United States.

What had been formulated during Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee's talks with U.S. officials recently was a framework for defence relationships, the Left leaders were told by Dr. Singh.

Disclosing this here on Friday, the newly elected Rajya Sabha member and member of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Sitaram Yechury, said the Left would continue to oppose any defence agreement with the U.S. and would pursue the issue after the Prime Minister's return from the U.S.

Mr. Yechury said the Prime Minister had explained to Left leaders that the framework of defence relationships formulated during Mr. Mukherjee's visit to the U.S. was only a follow-up on a 1995 arrangement between the two nations.

The Left parties were opposed to any agreement or pact with the U.S. which would mean participating in multilateral defence moves without the sanction of the United Nations. He also said that the Left leaders would oppose any move to allow representatives of India's Election Commission into Iraq for purposes of helping in the process of formulating electoral reforms in Iraq as long as the regime there was under the control of the US.

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