India concerned over US military aid to Pakistan: AK Antony to Robert Gates

Voicing its concern over the supply of US arms to Pakistan, India today said some American weapons given to Islamabad to fight the war against terror along the Afghanistan border was being diverted against it.

Raising the issue with US defence secretary Robert Gates during an official meeting in Washington, defence minister AK Antony said, "while the US is giving these arms to fight terrorists, Pakistan is diverting some portions to use against India."

Antony, who is in the US on a two-day visit on the invitation of Gates, was formally welcomed by Gates outside the River Entrance at the Pentagon.

The Indian defence minister also expressed New Delhi's concerns to Washington over the "delay and denial" of export licenses to Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratories, as also the continued presence of Indian scientific R&D agencies in the US Entity List under which these are banned for export of American technologies and know-how.

Antony also met US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and national security advisor Gen James Jones during which the two sides discussed regional and global issues such as the terrorist "threats and security situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Islamabad's continued support to India-centric terrorist groups."

With Gates, Antony expressed the hope that the review of the current Indo-US defence relations and structure would lead to "positive outcomes" as far as India was concerned.

"The presence of our institutions and laboratories in the US Entity List is somewhat anomalous, given our strengthening of relations in other areas of defence," Antony was quoted by officials as saying.

On the issue of three important agreements such as the logistics support, communication interoperability and geo-spatial cooperation, Antony said he appreciated the American view that these would facilitate access to high technologies, but there were a number of agencies involved and the deals needed to be considered in multi-dimensional perspective.

Noting that their second meeting this year signified the "measure of importance" which India attached to its relations with the US, Antony said New Delhi was looking forward to president Obama's visit in November and expressed the confidence that it would be an important milestone in strengthening of ties between the two nations.

The defence minister said that the relations in the areas of equipment and technology exchanges would evolve from a buyer-seller to a partnership based on transfer of technology, co-production and collaboration in defence projects with Indian industry involvement.

State department spokesperson PJ Crowley said Antony and Clinton talked about the region including the relations between India and Pakistan.

"Both sides are working very hard for a successful visit by president Obama later this year. They  (Clinton and Antony) talked about Afghanistan. Of course, both of our countries want to see the evolution of a stable Afghanistan," he said.

Noting that India is facing some decisions in terms of purchase of military hardware, Crowley said the secretary of state pledged that the United States is very interested in increasing its defence co-operation with India.

Pentagon spokesperson, Col Dave Lapan, said the two leaders discussed the upcoming presidential visit to India, issues related to export control, foundational agreements and regional security issues.

Antony is accompanied by Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Bikram Singh and Andaman and Nicobar tri-services Command Admiral DK Joshi, who are tipped to be the next Army and Navy chiefs respectively -- apart from IAF's director general (Air/Operations) Air Marshal AK Gogoi.

Defence secretary Pradeep Kumar and adviser to defence minister Sundaram Krishna are also part of the high-level delegation.