Thursday, June 30 2005 17:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Expressing its disapproval of the US-India Defence Relationship pact, the CPI (Communist Party of India) today (Jun 30, 2005) said this would drag India into an arms race and compromise with its sovereign foreign policy positions.

Observing that the new framework was "bound to drag India into an arms race", the party's Central Secretariat said, New Delhi "Cannot and should not join with USA on the question of missile defence system that can only serve the imperialist goal of USA and jeopardise regional and global security".

In a statement, it said the two countries, "Do not share common perspectives on the issues of political and economic freedom, fighting terrorism, weapons of mass destruction (Iraq as a case) and collaboration in operations (without UN mandate) in third countries".

The CPI said the strategic relationship framework meant that India becomes part of American strategies, thereby undermining its role in international politics and the resolve to promote multi-literalism in international relations.

Signing this framework "definitely means compromising our sovereign foreign policy positions and yielding too much to USA", the statement said.