‘US realising aid to Pakistan being diverted against India’

NEW DELHI - India Wednesday said the US was gradually realising the truth that its military aid to Pakistan to fight terrorism was being diverted against this country.

India also expressed the hope that the Obama administration would do “something” about its suggestion on creating a monitoring mechanism on how Pakistan was using the weapons and equipment it receives from the US.

“I think now, gradually, the US is also coming to realise this truth what we are saying. I hope that they will do something,” Defence Minister A. K. Antony told reporters here.

He was asked what he thought of the recent in $1.2 billion military aid that the Obama administration proposed in its budget for 2012, despite India’s objections to such aid being misused to target this country.

“We are repeatedly telling the US that even though their intention to give military aid to Pakistan is to fight terrorism and the Taliban, our opinion is that a sizable portion of this military aid is being diverted against India. So we are trying to convince them that they should have some mechanism to monitor whether this aid is being diverted against India,” the defence minister said.

Antony had last year flagged the issue of US military aid when he visited Washington to meet his counterpart Robert Gates and also when he met top military commanders, including the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Admiral Mike Mullen.