Indo-US deal would harm the nation: Joshi

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 3 (UNI) Giving a call not to surrender India's security interests, former Union Minister Murali Manohar Joshi today said the Indo-US nuclear deal was detrimental to the nation as it called for depending on the US on nuclear activities.

''The Indo-US agreement will make India depend entirely on the US on strategic nuclear power and arsenals,'' he told a seminar here as part of the Yuvamorcha's campaign against terrorism.

The agreement meant that India would have to rely completely on Washington and would be unable to pursue its programme independently, Mr Joshi said and added that India would become a client state.

When the neighbouring states had gone far in their nuclear activities and amazing nuclear war heads, Mr Joshi said the Government should not surrender its security interests. ''We should understand our own strength and be determined that no foreign power can destroy us. Why should we be afraid?'' he asked.

Lashing out at Pakistan, he said that the neighbouring country had long range goal in sponsoring terrorism. ''They have a long range goal of destabilising India economically, technologically and spiritually. The terrorists want that every Indian should be terrorised.'' He also alleged that Pakistan sponsored terrorism was not just confined to Kashmir, but they wanted to create a new nation in the North-East in the long run. ''Kashmir is only a short-term goal for them. But in the wider perspective, they want to carve out a new nation by carving out Assam and also some districts of Bengal,'' he said quoting late Pakistan President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who had said that his country's conflict with India was not confined to Kashmir alone, but to carve out a new nation in the North East.

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