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India important partner in war on terror: U.S.

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, APRIL 29. India is an "important partner" in the global war on terror and the United States "hopes to continue to strengthen this relationship," the U.S. State Department has said in its report, `Patterns of Global Terrorism for 2003.'

"India continued to be the object of attacks by foreign-based and Kashmiri groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir. Nevertheless, Indian counter-terrorism authorities could point to significant progress in the areas of legislation, finance and investigations," the State Department report said in the section dealing with South Asia. The region "continued to be a central theatre of the global war on terrorism."

According to Washington, New Delhi remained "steadfast" in its desire to combat terrorism in 2003 and had worked "closely" with the United States in this regard. It pointed to the fact that several hundred Indian law enforcement officials participated in training as a part of the anti-terrorism training programme. Also, during last year the Government of India moved to strengthen international cooperation in curbing terrorism financing.

As in previous years, the State Department took note of the various acts of terror against Indian nationals carried out by different outfits including "assertions" of the Indian Government that a number of high profile attacks could be attributed to the Lakshar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). The report also took note of the attack on the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister by the People's War last October.

Not surprisingly, the United States has once again given high marks to Pakistan, saying that it continued to be one of the U.S.' "most important partners" in the global coalition against terrorism and pointing to the fact that Gen. Pervez Musharraf himself had been the target of terrorist violence. "U.S.-Pakistan joint counter-terrorism efforts have been extensive," the report said quoting cooperative efforts in border security and criminal investigation as also in several long-term training projects.

Even while reserving high praise for Pakistan on anti-terrorism, the State Department took note of the fact that some leading terror outfits such as the Harkat-ul Mujahideen, the JeM and the LeT were based in Pakistan and operated on the borders with India and inside Jammu and Kashmir.

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