Thailand's
premier was guest of honour on Thursday at India's 63rd Republic Day
celebrations, an annual display of the country's military might held amid tight
security.
Yingluck Shinawatra, who flew to New Delhi on
Monday, is making her first official visit to the country to promote trade,
which the Asian partners hope to double to $14 billion by 2014 from its 2010
level.
Shinawatra, who became Thailand's first female
prime minister in August, was seated with Pratibha Patil, India's first woman
president and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as marching bands and military
hardware filed past.
On Wednesday, Thailand and India agreed to
speed up talks to achieve a bilateral free trade agreement by July.
Patil in an address on the eve of the
celebrations said rampant poverty in India was a concern despite the country's
robust economic growth, echoing recent comments from the prime minister.
"We are witness to the increasing
influence of India and its steady economic growth, but there are many
significant tasks that are yet to be accomplished, in particular the pledge to
empower the poor and the marginalised sections," she said.
During the ceremony, India put on display for
the first time its Agni-IV missile which can carry a one-tonne nuclear warhead
to a target some 3,500 kilometres (2,170 miles) away.
The two-stage Agni-IV, last tested in November
2011 is part of an Indian programme to build an array of weapons including
nuclear-tipped inter-continental ballistic missiles.
The national ceremony later culminated in
flypasts by US-built C-130J Super Hercules planes, Russian-supplied Sukhoi-30s,
MiG-29 fighter jets, British-made Jaguar bomber aircraft and military
helicopters.
India is upgrading its million-plus military
with hardware worth tens of billions of dollars because of its long-standing
tensions with regional rivals China and Pakistan.
Some 25,000 policemen, commandos and soldiers
guarded the capital against possible attacks from militant groups while its
skies were a no-fly zone for the duration of the celebrations, officials said.
Last September, 12 people died and nearly 80
others were wounded when a powerful bomb went off at the fortified Delhi High
Court in the heart of the Indian capital.
Troops were also out in strength on the
streets of Indian-administered Kashmir to try to thwart anti-government
protests by separatist groups who usually use the occasion to denounce rule by
New Delhi.
The mobile phone network was jammed there for
the duration of Republic Day celebrations to prevent the detonation of remote
controlled bombs, local reports said.
Three bombs exploded in the insurgency-riven
northeastern state of Manipur on Wednesday night and early Thursday, but no one
was killed or injured, police said.
About a dozen anti-India insurgent groups had
asked people to boycott Republic Day celebrations in some of the seven troubled
northeastern states.
Pratap Chakravarty | AFP News
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