India, US likely to ink strategic info sharing pact during 2+2 meet
   Date :25-Oct-2020

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By Arul Louis :
 
NEW YORK,
 
THE Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA), a breakthrough pact for sharing important strategic information, is likely to be signed during the 2+2 ministerial dialogue between the top foreign affairs and defence officials of India and the US next week, a senior official in President Donald Trump’s administration has hinted.
 
“We’ve made significant progress towards concluding the last foundational defence enabling agreement, the BECA,” the official told reporters on Friday ahead of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mike Esper’s visit to India for the 2+2 meeting. “This agreement will allow for expanded geospatial information sharing between our armed forces. “We are also seeking to expand secure communication capabilities between our respective militaries as well as between our foreign and defence ministries, and that too figures prominently on what we’re trying to accomplish in the information-sharing space,” the official said on the basis of anonymity.
 
In preparation for it on the Indian side, the cabinet approved the BECA, which had been submitted by the Defence Ministry on Wednesday. BECA will enable sharing geospatial intelligence and information on maps and satellite images for defence and also have applications in times of disaster to organise relief. India will be represented by Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the 2+2, which will be held a week before the November 3 US presidential election. The official said that the US would welcome greater Indian participation in Southeast Asia through a presence in the South China Sea, but also through security cooperation and development investments.
 
“We’ve had ongoing dialogue with the Indians about increased cooperation in Southeast Asia writ large, not simply the South China Sea, and we encourage their involvement. “Given China’s increasingly aggressive behaviour across the Indo-Pacific from the Himalayas to the South China Sea, it’s more important than ever that we work with like-minded partners such as India,” the official said. Asked if the US election outcome could impact the cooperation between New Delhi and Washington on countering China, the official said: “I fully expect, have no reason to believe that in the event of there being a new administration following the upcoming elections here in the US that the policy with regard to India would change. I think both parties are largely aligned on their interest in supporting and deepening the partnership.” The official said that Washington was “covering the situation in the Himalayas closely, and understandably. And we certainly want to ensure that the situation doesn’t escalate”. 
 
‘Even ready to talk to UK PM for Nawaz Sharif’s deportation’
 
ISLAMABAD,
 
Oct 24 (ANI)
 
PAKISTAN Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that he is even ready to initiate talks with his British counterpart Boris Johnson to get Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif deported from London. Citing an interview of Khan on ARY News broadcast on Friday, Dawn quoted Prime Minister Khan as saying that since getting Nawaz extradited from Britain would be a “long process”, his Government was pushing for him to be deported “which can happen immediately”. “We are in regular contact with their officials. We are making full efforts to get him deported,” the Pakistani Prime Minister said. “If I have to, I will go and talk to Boris Johnson,” he added.
 
This comes weeks after the British Government had informed the Pakistani officials that they will not get involved in “its internal politics”. For over nearly a month, the Pakistan Government has made several attempts to get Sharif’s arrest warrant signed. The ‘News International’ reported that the country’s diplomats stationed in London also asked the British Government to help execute the arrest warrants of Nawaz, however, the Government bluntly refused.
 
Last month, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) came down heavily on the Imran Khan-led Government for allowing Sharif to go abroad without informing the court and it was up to the dispensation to take steps for ensuring the latter’s return to the country.