India should not allow US warships berthing facilities: Fernandes

New Delhi, Apr 20 (UNI) NDA convenor and former Defence Minister George Fernandes today said that the Indian government should not accept the United States' demand for berthing facilities for its nuclear warships.

''The request should not be accepted. Don't they (the US) have enough seaface themselves. Why should they need to come into our sea. The government should not say yes to it or be soft towards to it (the deamnd),'' Mr Fernandes told reporters when asked about his reaction to the statement of US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael G. Mullen in this regard here earlier this week.

Asked whether there was any such demand during his tenure as the defence minister , Mr Fernandes said that there was no such request made at that time by the US.

The US Navy has sought berthing and access facilities at Indian ports to counter growing clout of Chinese navy in the region.

Mullen had expressed happiness over the 'very supportive' response to his concept of a 'thousand ship navy' collaboration between seafaring nations.

Pointing out the threat posed by the naval wing of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers, Mullen expressed concern at the growing clout of the Chinese navy, and maintained that the global war against terror and the Al Qaeda could continue for 'decades'.

He had said that the issue of berthing and access at Indian ports did figure in the discussions with Indian Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta. The leadership of the Indian Navy seems very supportive, he replied, when asked how the concept of the 'thousand ship navy' he mooted two years ago was received. He said that it was up to India to determine how many ships they want to commit.

Mullen stated that it was about a global partnership that works at the regional and larger level. To that end, there was no formalised command and control structure. It's about working together when the need arises.

The US had first made the proposal some three years back and New Delhi is yet to officially respond to this. Presently, US Navy vessels are granted berthing and access facilities as the need arises. The US would like the arrangement to be institutionalised.

The concept, in fact, had already been put into practice in the wake of the killer Indian Ocean tsunami and last year's evacuation of foreign nationals from Lebanon in the midst of the month-long armed conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah. The ability of large numbers of ships from different nations to quickly come together in times of crisis shows that the concept can work, Mullen had contended.

UNI