Recommendation to bring India into ‘NATO Plus 5’ proves its tall stature at global level: Kavinder

JAMMU, MAY 27: Kavinder Gupta, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Dy Chief Minister has welcomed the United States Congressional Committee’s recommendation to bring India into NATO Plus in order to strengthen it, asserting that this should amply make the opposition political parties to realize the existing stature of India at the international level. He said that there is not an iota of doubt that the credit of achieving such an unprecedented position at the global level goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a statement issued to media here today, the senior BJP leader stated that it is a significant development that ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States, a powerful Congressional Committee has recommended strengthening of NATO Plus by including India. He said that the US along with other nations are instrumental in bringing India on board as they feel that it would facilitate seamless intelligence sharing between these countries and India would access the latest military technology without much of a time lag.

It is pertinent to mention here that NATO Plus, currently NATO Plus 5, is a security arrangement that brings together NATO and five aligned nations namely Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Israel, and South Korea to boost global defense cooperation. Moreover, The House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), led by Chairman Mike Gallagher and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi, overwhelmingly adopted a policy proposal to enhance Taiwan’s deterrence, including strengthening NATO Plus to include India.

Kavinder Gupta said that it is not necessary that after becoming a member India will solely focus on security but there are various other issues towards which India can urge the NATO-Plus nations to work for the common welfare of the people of the nations across the globe. However, it can’t be denied that strong NATO bu including India would build upon the US and India’s close partnership to strengthen global security and deter the aggression of the CCP across the Indo-Pacific region,he added.

 Meanwhile, the former Dy CM also lauded the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for seeking a death sentence for the terrorist Yasin Malik who carried a tirade of anti-India activities. He said that Yasin Malik was involved in multiple killings of security forces including the Air Force personnel, members of minuscule minority community in Kashmir, sending Kashmiri youth for terrorist training to Pakistan and last but not least arranging the funding for terrorist strikes in India. He asserted that Yasin Malik is the main culprit who brought huge miseries to the innocent people of Kashmir by misleading the youth and encouraging them to join separatist and terror cadres against India. He endorsed NIA’s initiative saying that such offenders deserve only and only death sentences.