India & US talk defence ties amid Nikhil Gupta extradition

US makes 1st contact with Modi govt after Lok Sabha elections

^{By Our Special Correspondent}

^{New Delhi, June 18: The US national security advisor Jake Sullivan made the first contact with the Narendra Modi-led dispensation at the Centre in the third term. Sullivan held talks with his Indian hosts in the shadow of the extradition of an Indian national for his alleged role in the murder plot of the separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.}

^{Sullivan is in New Delhi as part of his two-day long visit. He met his Indian counterpart, the national security advisor Ajit Doval.}

^{Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the tenure of Doval after wining the Lok Sabha elections. Doval is serving now his third five-year tenure as the national security advisor.}

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^{It was reliably learnt that India and the US are seeking to further deepen defence ties. The visit of Sullivan is being seen in New Delhi aligned to the two countries breaking barriers in transfer of critical technologies in the defence areas.}

^{India and the US had inked the pact for the Initiative on Critical Emerging Technologies (ICET). The pact inked in 2022 is seen as a pathway for India to access high-end defence technologies.}

^{The partnership of General Electric with the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the jet engines is known to be an offshoot of the ICET.}

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^{Sullivan’s visit has come close on the heels of the extradition of the Indian national Nikhil Gupta to the US. The US Justice Department accused Gupta for his alleged involvement in the ‘hire for murder’ plot against Pannun.}

^{India had offered cooperation in the US probe in the murder plot. Canada had also accused India of carrying out killings on its soil.}

^{Canada had claimed ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence to make allegations against India. The ‘Five Eyes’ is an intelligence sharing collaboration among the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, and New Zealand.}

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^{It was not immediately known if Sullivan followed up on the allegations against India for the alleged murder plots on foreign soils. But the US has made a high-level official contact with India within days of Modi taking oath as the prime minister for the third term in a row.}

^{The US is also heading for the Presidential election in November. Modi and the US President, Joe Biden, recently shared stage while taking part in the G7 Outreach summit in Italy.}

^{The Sullivan visit is also being seen in the backdrop of India and the US giving further boost to the bilateral trade. The US has red-flagged the “export of overcapacity” by China.}    

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