India, US move on global terror

New Delhi: The government will soon put in place a structured mechanism comprising top officials from key security and intelligence agencies to deal with their counterparts in the United States on the issue of global terror. This will be in follow up to the recent US visit by PM Narendra Modi during which the two countries reached an understanding to launch a joint offensive against terror outfits like the Lashkar-e-Tayeeba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Haqqani network and the D-company.

The new arrangement is being seen as a major step forward in intelligence co-operation between the two countries for which there will be a dedicated team that will liaison on a regular basis with their US counterparts. Sources said there would be a designated team comprising senior officials from agencies like the Research and Analysis Wing, Intelligence Bureau, Military Intelligence etc that will work under the over supervision of the office of the national security advisor.

Sources said the government is moving at a fast pace to ensure that the information sharing mechanism between the two countries on terror starts working at the earliest and wants to formalise the arrangement by setting up this team. What the government intends doing is to have a regular interaction with the US agencies not only to get maximum information regarding terror outfits operating in India but possibly have joint operations to neutralize possible terror operatives.

Since the PM’s US visit has been hugely successful as far the issue of terror is concerned we don’t want to waste any time in putting in place structured and dedicated mechanism in place that starts working at the earliest. More so because in the months ahead threat to India would be even greater from outfits like the Al Qaida and Tehreek-e-Taliban,’’ a senior security official said.

 The urgency on part of New Delhi in getting the intelligence sharing mechanism with the US working is also because of the fact that India has asked America to mount more pressure on Pakistan to dismantle the terror network on its soil which is working against India. The intent, sources added, was to further tighten the grip on outfits like Lashkar and Jaish with the help of American agencies.

 In the days ahead Indian security agencies will seek more specific information from their US counterparts regarding the financial network of Lashkar, Jaish and Dawood, particularly from West Asia. It is suspected that bulk of the funding of these groups is coming in from this region through some frontal organisations and India is keen to freeze the financial network of these terror outfits.