Fresh protests in India over USS Nimitz

CHENNAI: Fresh protests have been staged in southern India over the visit of a US aircraft carrier, with a prominent Muslim group dismissing efforts by servicemen to take part in community activities.

The Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam described the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz as a "threat to mankind" that has been "responsible for the killing of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians."

"It is a pity that Manmohan Singh, the present PM, has bent so low to barter the safety of the country for friendship with the rogue US state," the leader of the group, MH Jawahirullah, said late on Tuesday as several thousand supporters staged an anti-US demonstration in Chennai.

The USS Nimitz, one of the world's largest warships and on the way back from the Gulf, is currently anchored two nautical miles (3.7 kilometres) off the coast of Chennai, a city formerly called Madras.

Crew members have been on a goodwill offensive, visiting schools and hospitals, and have been generally getting good press in the local media.

But according to Jawahirullah, "the hypocritical drama enacted by the US navy men will not wash away their sins in Iraq and elsewhere."

India's defence ministry has said the visit by the 333-metre long warship -- with a crew of 5,000, including nuclear reactor engineers, radiation experts and aviators and with more than 60 fighter jets aboard -- is a routine part of boosting ties between the two countries.