NEW DELHI: India is to strongly oppose the supply of defence equipment to Pakistan by the United States and it will be a major agenda item during the visit of 27 US lawmakers this week as Delhi seeks to consolidate bipartisan Congressional support for ties with India, Indian media reported Monday.
India will rely on the US Congress to limit supplies of American advanced military hardware and weapons systems to Pakistan besides maintaining oversight on aid Islamabad is accused of diverting to finance terror, said officials.
A delegation of 19 US lawmakers will visit New Delhi and Hyderabad this week in a visit organised by the Aspen Institute think tank. Another delegation of eight, led by Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the US House Judiciary Committee, will visit New Delhi and Bengaluru around the same time. They will meet ministers, members of parliament, academics and industry leaders, said officials aware of the programme.
This visit of Democratic and Republican members of the Senate and the House of Representatives is a demonstration of “bipartisan support in American Congress for strong India-US relations,” said a person familiar with Indo-US ties.
George Holding, Republican chair of the India Caucus in the House of Representatives, and Hank Johnson of the Democratic Party will be among the visitors. The visit is significant, coming ahead of Modi’s proposed visit to the US to meet Trump in mid-2017.
