India, US sign gun-and-nuke deal

[Naveed Yaseen]

NEW DELHI: India and the US have signed defence agreements allowing the sale of sophisticated US weaponry to the South Asian nation as it modernises its military, with New Delhi also approving sites for two US nuclear reactors.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna signed the controversial deal on the end-use monitoring arrangement between the two countries on Monday. This will allow the US to monitor transferred technology to ensure that it does not leak to other countries, a suspicion rooted in India’s traditionally good military ties with Russia. Under the agreement, India will be able to purchase state-of-the-art fighter planes and other US military hardware.

Both sides also established channels for formal strategic dialogue and also agreed on the technical safeguards in cooperation on space technology.

A joint statement said both sides had also agreed to form working groups on nano-technology, civil nuclear technology, civil aviation and licensing issues in defence, strategic and civil nuclear trade. iftikhar gilani

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