Military deal with US puts India in perilous ground; it will needlessly get into conflicts: Pakistani daily

New Delhi: The recent US-India military deal will affect New Delhi's strategic autonomy and the country would unnecessarily become part of military conflicts, as it has allowed itself to be a facilitator for the American forces, an expert wrote in a Pakistani daily.

“India is playing a dangerous game. In the eyes of the world, India will become part of the US military bloc,” noted Mumbai-based lawyer A G Noorani said in an opinion piece published in the Pakistani English daily Dawn on Saturday.

“India rarely operates beyond its shores. This agreement practically gives very little advantage to it, but gives an enormous opportunity to the US military. “It means gradually India will become one of their major facilitators,” he wrote.

He pointed out that it is important to correctly judge the nuances of the agreement reached between the United States and India during US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter’s visit to New Delhi on April 10-12.

India and US have “agreed in principle to conclude a Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (Lemoa) in the coming months”.

The agreement will allow US forces to refuel their ships and aircraft and, if necessary, keep their military equipment on Indian soil.

“In 2003, the US had asked India to send its troops to participate in the war on Iraq. But the then prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee kept his head and overruled a virtually unanimous cabinet,” Noorani wrote.

Noorani said that the US is prompted by a larger strategic purpose rather than immediate tactical advantages.

“India is not prepared for a military alliance; but it has begun to tread on a slippery path, eyeing China’s relation closely,” he added.