India Objects To Moves For Bases In Indian Ocean

LONDON, July 12 (AP)—India has protested against what it believes are Soviet and United States moves to build rival military bases in the Indian Ocean, senior diplomats have reported. There has been no firm evidence from the Soviet Union or the USA to indicate that India’s suspicions are justified. Nevertheless, the Indian Government, according to information here, seems convinced that Russia is planning to transform the Pakistani port of Gwadur, west of Karachi, into a submarine base, ostensibly for Pakistani use and that the US has already begun transforming certain islands in the British Indian Ocean territory into an air and sea transit, communications and storage base. Taking up the Gwadur affair with the Soviet Union and the American affair with Britain, India is said to have protested against any such action.