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India, US likely to sign defence pact during Obama trip: Manohar Parrikar

India and US are likely to sign their new 10-year defence framework agreement during the visit to the country of President Barack Obama later this month, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Monday.

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India and US are likely to sign their new 10-year defence framework agreement during the visit to the country of President Barack Obama later this month, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Monday.
He added that the strengthening of the existing framework and enhancement of its scope was going to be "definitely beneficial" for India.

"This (the signing of the agreement) is one of the possibilities... These are issues which are in the spectrum, or horizon," Parrikar told a news channel. However, the minister stated that the issue would be decided by the Prime Minister's Office. The US President would be visiting the country later this month to be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade here.

Asked if he welcomes such a framework, Parrikar said, "I think strengthening our ties with US, with the already existing framework enhancing its scope, is definitely beneficial to the country."
He said technology transfer initiatives and trade can be important areas of the new framework. Parrikar pointed out that the focus would not be on procurement but on joint development of technology and technology transfer. 

"There is already existing technology and trade (cooperation) which can be expanded," he said. On a query about enhancing joint military exercises, Parrikar said it was already going on and that "enhancing it is not a big problem". During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US last September, both countries had agreed in principle to extend their defence agreement for another 10 years, which will take forward the cooperation between the two in the crucial area.

The framework agreement, which expires this year, was signed in the US in 2005 by the then Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his US counterpart in the previous George W. Bush administration, Donald Rumsfeld. The new framework is likely to enhance the bilateral defence partnership by stepping up joint military exercises and through more in-depth intelligence-sharing, maritime security, etc. It will also include a drive against terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. But the most-significant aspect would be the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) -- aimed at enhancing the ones existing under the Defence Policy Group, which lay out the path for future defence cooperation.
The US is pushing for what it calls "transformative defence technologies" for co-development and co-production with India under DTTI, which could become the hallmark of the Modi government's 'Make in India' initiative. 

Parrikar also fielded questions on the suspected "terror boat" from Pakistan that went up in flames on New Year's night after it was intercepted off the coast of Gujarat by the Indian Coast Guard. He defended the action of the Coast Guard and maintained that the Indian security personnel did not fire on the boat. The minister said he was awaiting a detailed report from Coast Guard regarding the incident and could release video footage and pictures in "2-3 days".

But Parrikar ducked questions on Pakistan Army's involvement in the case, as claimed by him earlier, saying intercepts were "irrelevant" to the operation and how it ended. He said one should take the intercepts as indication of the presence of the boat in Indian waters. He added that suicide by the occupants of the boat showed that they were motivated. Told that the occupants had in that case chosen a very painful death, Parrikar said, "How do you know? They can take cyanide pill and then burn the boat".

He admitted that the means by which the occupants committed suicide was not known. "Fire on the boat does not mean that was the way they killed themselves," he said. Parrikar further said that the Intelligence Bureau is free to question Coast Guard personnel on board the vessel that had carried out the operation against the Pakistani boat. He said the boat was neither in a fishing area and nor was it following any busy route preferred by smugglers. Their actions indicate that they were there for "some other kind of activity", added Parrikar.

His remarks come in the light of questions being raised on the veracity of claims that a 2008 Mumbai attack-style operation had been foiled by Coast Guard. There were also reports claiming that the boat was involved in smuggling. Meanwhile, refusing to discuss in detail the problems in the multi-crore Rafale fighter jet deal with France, Parrikar said the French company has to stick to the Request for Proposal. The minister also stood by his commitment for bringing in the long-pending 'One Rank, One Pension' scheme by the end of this financial year and added that the "basic framework on it will be fulfilled".

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