JOIN USIndia, US agree to dismantle terror, criminal modules
Furthering Indo-US cooperation on terrorism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama on Tuesday agreed to make “joint and concerted efforts” to dismantle safe havens for terror and criminal networks like LeT, JeM, D-company, al-Qaeda and Haqqani network.
In their first summit meeting spread over two hours at the White House, the two leaders also agreed to take steps to disrupt financial and tactical support to these terror outfits.
D-company is a reference to Dawood Ibrahim, the mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai blasts, who is believed to be in Pakistan. Indications were that India would seek US help in getting him extradited to face trial in India.
After the meeting between Modi and Obama, officials made it clear that India was not going to join “any coalition” in the fight against terrorism in West Asia. They also clarified that a trilateral partnership agreed on Afghanistan would be developmental in nature and not military cooperation.
They also said that the “joint and concerted efforts” on dismantling safe havens for terrorist groups and criminal networks do not mean that India and the US were not going to launch operations but carry out any UN-mandated task.
Modi and Obama, whose discussions covered a broad range of issues, including cooperation in defence, security, energy economic and space, took a significant decision to break the impasse on the implementation of civil nuclear deal. “We are serious about resolving issues on both sides in civil nuclear energy cooperation. This is important to India for meeting energy security needs,” Modi said.
An inter-agency contact group will be set up to address the issues of liability, administrative and technical issues. From the Indian side, agencies like DAE, MEA and Finance Ministry will be involved.
“We are setting up an inter-agency contact group to be able to resolve all issues that are outstanding and hindering the rapid deployment of US-origin nuclear reactors in India, that includes liability, it includes administrative issues and it includes technical issues,” Vikram Doraiswami, Joint Secretary (Americas), in the MEA, told reporters while briefing on the meeting between Modi and Obama.
Earlier, Modi and Obama in a joint editorial in “The Washington Post” also stated that it is time to set a new agenda, one that realises concrete benefits for the citizens. At a joint media appearance with Obama, Modi expressed the hope that Indo-US relations will make fast progress.