India ready to help new Japan intel agency

Tokyo's counterterrorism unit was set up on Dec 8

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will offer his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe New Delhi’s full support to the new intelligence agency Tokyo recently set up to augment the counterterrorism capability of the pacifist nation.

Abe and Modi will hold the annual India-Japan summit on Saturday. The two leaders will then travel to Varanasi to witness ‘Ganga Aarti’ at Dashashwamedh Ghat on the bank of the river. Abe will leave from New Delhi on Sunday.

Modi-Abe meeting will see New Delhi pledging support to Japan to ensure security during the G-7 summit, which is scheduled to take place at Kashiko Island in Mie Prefecture of Japan in May next.

Tokyo has been concerned over security during the multilateral event, particularly after the deadly terror strike in Paris on November 13 – just about a fortnight before the world leaders assembled in the French capital for the United Nations climate change summit COP21.

Sources told Deccan Herald that New Delhi would not only share its counterterrorism expertise with Tokyo, but would also offer training to officials of the newly created intelligence unit. New Delhi, according to the sources, would offer training to Japanese officials facilities of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analytical Wing (RAW) – the internal and external intelligence agencies of Government of India.

Japan has limited counterterrorism experience as it never suffered a terror attack in its modern history. But six of its citizens were killed in terror strikes in foreign countries this year. 

The Islamic State terrorists killed two Japanese hostages in Syria in February. Three Japanese women were killed in a terror-strike in a museum in Tunisia in March. The Islamic State also claimed responsibility for the killing of a Japanese citizen in Bangladesh early October. The incidents prompted the Japanese government to launch a counterterrorism intelligence unit on December 8.

Opposition to nuclear deal

Residents of Jaitapur in Ratnagiri district and coastal Konkan area of Maharashtra have requested Japan Premier Shinzo Abe not to sign nuclear agreements with India, reports DHNS from Mumbai/New Delhi.

Meanwhile, rights organisations across the country said they will stage rallies against the proposed deal. Rallies would take place on Saturday in places like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Chennai.