17 Nov 2003
INDIAN
FORCES ENCIRCLING PAKISTAN
From Our Delhi
Bureau
NEW DELHI: India's bid to encircle Pakistan
militarily is fast becoming a reality. It has already set up its
first overseas military bases at Farkhor and Ayni in Tajikistan and
now it is pursuing Iran to gain access to Iranian bases in the event
of a war with Pakistan.
With Afghanistan already in New
Delhi's kitty, Islamabad now finds itself in the middle of hostile
neighbours.
India's ace defence analyst Rahul Bedi claims that
both India and Iran have entered into a secret accord that gives
India access to the Iranian bases.
Though a spokesman of the
Iranian Embassy here denied any such agreement, saying Iran was a
well-wisher of both the countries, a top defence source says India
has redoubled its efforts to build a new Iranian strategic port at
Chahbahar, close to Pakistani province of Baluchistan. The port will
provide India a land route to Central Asia and Afghanistan.
Last
March, India and Iran conducted their first-ever joint naval
exercises. Such close military cooperation between India and Iran is
"unprecedented," says Delhi-based Rahul Bedi of Jane's
Defence Weekly.
India and Iran have common military interests
in the way that both have same Russian equipment like MiGs that need
upgrading. As part of an agreement worth more than US $25 billion
signed last January during President Khatami's visit to India, India
is expected to help upgrade Iran's fleet of Russian submarines and
MiG aircraft.
Iran is seeking to build up its missile
and military software capabilities. It has also acquired four Russian
Kilo-class submarines.
Describing, Indo-Iranian alliance a
stabilizing factor for the region, Bedi traces their cooperation
building up in Afghanistan. Their common interest in Kabul was to
overthrow Taliban. For the sake of Taliban, Pakistan lost its
important ally in the Muslim world and hence made its western borders
insecure.
A recent report that Dr YSR Prasad, a former
chairman and managing director of the Nuclear Corporation of India,
has taken up an assignment in Iran in 2000 is being cited as proof
that India was also helping Iran to develop nuclear weapons. He
is believed to have helped Iran build technical and physical
infrastructure for its nuclear power plants.
Besides, Indian
government has also permitted two Iranian students to carry out
post-doctoral research at the prestigious science institution Tata
Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai.
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