POKHRAN (India), Nov 18: India’s military on Friday staged a grand finale to major military manoeuvres, showcasing newly-acquired T-90 battle tanks and warplanes close to the border with Pakistan in the Thar desert The Indian military said New Delhi gave advance notice of the 14-day exercises codenamed “Operation Desert Strike” to neighbouring Pakistan in line with a pact between the nuclear-armed neighbours, who are engaged in a slow-moving peace process to end their decades-old feud over Kashmir.

“Such exercises show our capability and ability,” said Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee. He said, however, the war games were not designed to intimidate India’s neighbours.

“India does not have any territorial designs...all our capabilities are just aimed at protecting our interests,” Mukherjee said as supersonic jets dived in mock attacks.

Officials said the exercise was the biggest since the 1987 Operation Brass Tacks in the desert state of Rajasthan which sent tensions skyrocketing between India and Pakistan.

Forty-two observers and diplomats from 30 countries including Bangladesh, Britain, China, France and the United States were at the war games in Pokhran.

“We welcome such observers,” the defence minister said.

The army chief General J.J. Singh said Beijing had invited New Delhi and Moscow to send observers to recent Chinese exercises. Ties between India and China, which fought a border war four decades ago, have warmed in recent years.

“Our men also went to China and so we invited them as we are just showing our capabilities and we hope there will be better cooperation in the future,” Singh, head of India’s 1.4-million strong army, told reporters in Pokhran.

The latest exercises were staged in the vicinity of India’s nuclear testing site, where New Delhi carried out nuclear tests in May 1998.

Friday’s finale came a day after the Indian Air Force wound up joint 12-day exercises with the US Air Force in Marxist-ruled West Bengal state.

The Indian Air Force, the world’s fourth largest, said it deployed its French-made Mirage-2000, Russian MiG-27s and MiG-21s and British-designed Jaguar warplanes along with attack helicopters and drones in the Thar exercise.—AFP