India wary as Pakistan moves to ink security pact with US

With Islamabad moving to ink an agreement with Washington DC to enhance interoperability between the two militaries and clear the way for procurement of high-end defence equipment from the United States for the armed forces of Pakistan, New Delhi is assessing its implication for the security of India.

The move by Islamabad and Washington DC signalling intent to expand bilateral defence cooperation came just weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with President Joe Biden in the White House on June 22 saw the US indicating its willingness to lower barriers to share advanced technologies – both civilian and military – with India.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government in Islamabad has given its nod to a proposal for Pakistan signing the Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement – commonly known as the CISMOA – with the United States, according to a report in Express Tribune, a newspaper published in the neighbouring country.

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The CISMOA is one of the “foundational agreements” that allow the US to step up defence cooperation and share advanced military hardware with other nations. The US already inked all the “foundational agreements” with India, including the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) – a variant of the CISMOA.

The US designated India as a "Major Defence Partner" in June 2016, clearing the way for sharing of critical military equipment and technology.

Asked for New Delhi’s reaction to the move by Pakistan and the US to sign the CISMOA, Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), on Thursday told journalists that the Government of India would do whatever would be necessary to ensure security of the nation. He, however, declined to specifically comment on the proposed agreement between Pakistan and the US.

New Delhi has been conveying its concerns to Washington DC over the continuing sale of US military equipment to Pakistan.

The US State Department had in early 2022 approved “a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Pakistan of F-16 Case for Sustainment and related equipment for an estimated cost of $450 million”. The US Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) had on September 7, 2022, delivered the required certification, notifying the American Congress of the possible sale. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had conveyed New Delhi’s displeasure over the proposed US package to refit Pakistan’s F-16 fighter jets. They had dismissed the argument put forward by the US that the refitting package of its F-16 fighter aircraft would help Pakistan combat the terrorists.

New Delhi would reiterate its concerns to Washington DC if the CISMOA paved the way for the US to provide more advanced military technologies to Pakistan, said the source.

India already signed the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) with the US creating a framework to support each other's aircraft, ships and personnel with logistics, fuel and spares. India turned into a “major defence partner” of the US and kept on signing one defence agreement after another – (COMCASA) in 2018, Industrial Security Annex (ISA) to General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) in 2019 and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) in 2020.