(RTTNews) - India has conveyed to the United States its deep concern over the misuse of its military and other types of aid by its nuclear-armed and hostile neighbor Pakistan.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on a four-day visit to America, raised the issue of American military supplies and funds to Pakistan, and conveyed his country's concern over the admitted diversion of non-military aid by Islamabad to bolster its defenses against India.
"Such equipment was used against us in the past and we continue to have such worries. We leave it to the U.S. to reflect fully on this issue," Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said, briefing reporters on the Prime Minister's meetings.
The situation in the region, particularly terrorism emanating from Pakistan and Afghanistan, came up prominently during Singh's series of meetings with officials of the Obama Administration and U.S. law-makers.
Singh, who will be meeting with President Barack Obama Tuesday, also pressed for the relaxation of restrictions on the entities list to enable expansion of defense co-operation during discussions with U.S. interlocutors.
India is bearing the brunt of American restrictions in dual-use technology exports, with 11 of its 16 such regimes currently denied to New Delhi, while publicly praised by the Obama administration for its impeccable record on non-proliferation.
But, countries, including Slovakia and Slovenia, face restrictions in just four of the 16 technology-denial regimes, according to confidential Department of Commerce data obtained by Press Trust of India (PTI).
China Asserting Itself
Separately, during an interaction at the U.S. Council for Foreign Relations in Washington, Singh said there was "certain amount of assertiveness" by China lately, which had to be taken note of.
"There is a certain amount of assertiveness on the part of the Chinese. I don't fully understand the reasons for it. That has to be taken note of," the Indian premier said, against the backdrop of some provocative steps of China in recent time. He also sought to ridicule China's growth, suggesting that it was achieved by the "writ of the ruling group in an undemocratic set-up", while ignoring values like respect for human rights as also multi-ethnic and multi-cultural rights.
Reprocessing Talks To Take Time
Meanwhile, India said Monday it was not looking to finalize negotiations with the U.S. on a pact for reprocessing spent fuel--a key step in the implementation of the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear deal--during Tuesday's Singh-Obama summit talks.
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