US supply of F-16 planes to Pak a "serious threat" to India: Cong member

New Delhi, Mar 15: Congress member Pramod Tiwari today raised in Rajya Sabha the supply of F-16 fighter planes to Pakistan by the US and asked the government to impress upon Washington not to go ahead with the deal saying it was a "serious danger" to India.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour amid din, Tiwari said India's relations with all neighbouring countries, be it Nepal, China or Pakistan, have worsened.

Supply of F-16 planes to Pakistan will be "a serious danger and challenge" for India, he said. Tiwari said the government has "failed" to convince the US that Pakistan would not use the planes against terror activities but against India.

"This is a matter concerning the security of the country...Government should strongly put its side before the US," he said. He expressed concern that the Chinese army has entered the Pak-Occupied Kashmir and Pakistan and China were jointly making constructions there.

"This is a big threat for India," he said. He also said the Chinese army entered five and half kilometers in India. He further said India's boundaries have been encroached upon 1400 times. India's image has emerged as "weak" nation with a "weak" foreign policy.

Praveen Rashtrapal (Cong) demanded more special courts in the wake of "increase" in atrocities against SC and STs. Citing examples, he said 14,268 cases are pending in Madhya Pradesh and 13,678 in Rajasthan.

Husain Dalwai of Congress raised the issue of deaths in road accidents. In the last decade, road crashes in India have killed over 12 lakh people and seriously injured or left permanently disabled another 55 lakh, he said.

Sanjay Sinh (Cong) talked about "serious irregularities" in payment of compensation to farmers for land acquired for construction of Varanasi-Lucknow National Highway No 56.

He demanded an inquiry by a central team into land acquired from farmers of Sultanpur block.

PTI