The Hindu : Front Page : Pro-U.S. policies harmful to our interests: Karat

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Sunday, Sep 02, 2007
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Pro-U.S. policies harmful to our interests: Karat

Special Correspondent

“Military collaboration dangerous”

Nuclear deal will make India a “subordinate military ally” of U.S.
Indian armed forces getting interlocked with U.S.

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the mass mobilisation planned by the Left parties against next week’s five-nation naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat has warned that the India-U.S. nuclear deal and the Defence Framework Agreement with America would make India a “subordinate military ally of the United States.”

“The nuclear deal, the military agreement, and the economic policies designed to advance the interests of U.S. capital are parts of the trio which are harmful to India’s sovereignty, independent foreign policy and the people’s economic interests,” Mr. Karat said in a front page article in the latest issue of the CPI (M) organ, People’s Democracy.

Warning the government against such military collaboration, the general secretary said India had never signed an agreement like the Defence Framework Agreement, 2005, in the past. “Those who compare it to the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation of 1971 are wrong. There is no comparison. By the current agreement with the U.S., four steps are being taken to integrate India with the global strategy of the United States.”

As a case in point, Mr. Karat cited the clause that provides for the two defence establishments to collaborate in multinational operations. “By this clause, India accepted the U.S. concept of multinational operations in third countries outside the U.N. auspices.”

According to the general secretary, the Logistics Support Agreement that India has agreed to sign with the U.S. under the Defence Framework Agreement is “nothing but the ‘Access and Cross-Serving Agreement’ which the U.S. has with many other countries.”

This, he said, will allow U.S. ships and planes to use Indian ports and airbases for refuelling, maintenance, servicing and communications. “By such an arrangement, Indian ports and airports can be used by U.S. warships and planes when they are deployed for offensive operations such as the attack on Iraq in 2003.”

As for the Defence Minister’s contention that India was conducting joint exercises with a number of countries, Mr. Karat said there can be no denying the fact that the Indian armed forces are getting steadily interlocked with the U.S.

More than half of the joint exercises conducted by the Army in the past five years were with the United States. Two marches — one led by Mr. Karat from Chennai and another by CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan from Kolkata — will begin from September 4.

Both will converge at Visakhapatnam on September 8 for a rally.

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