Thiruvananthapuram: Asserting the Left would continue to oppose the Indo-US nuclear deal, CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat today warned that if the pact was operationalised, India would have to face the same fate of Pakistan which ended up as a "junior unequal" strategic parter of the US.

"The ultimate aim of the deal was to bind India as a junior, unequal strategic partner of the US to serve its interests in the region just as Pakistan," Karat said while inaugurating a one-day seminar on the Indo-US nuclear deal organised by the AKG Research and Study Centre here.

Referring to a media report of the Pakistan military chief being summoned to an American warship in Indian Ocean for discussions by the US Joint Chief of Staff, the CPI-M leader said India would also have to undergo such plights if the deal was operationalised.

"There is an elected civilian government in Pakistan. But that government has no say in matters like this. This is the plight India should not get into. That is why we were carrying forward our struggle against the deal," he said.

If the deal got materialised overcoming several stumbling blocks on its way, it would mean the end of a non-aligned and independent foreign policy pursued by the country, he said.

Holding that returns from the deal were rather limited compared to huge strategic, political and economic costs involved, the Marxist leader said the pact would also jeopardise the country's domestic self-reliant nuclear energy programme.
Source : PTI