The Hindu : National : Steps to put anti-terrorism mechanism in place

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Friday, Nov 10, 2006
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Steps to put anti-terrorism mechanism in place

Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan are set to create an anti-terrorism mechanism and fix dates for talks on Siachen between Defence Secretaries when Foreign Secretaries Shivshankar Menon and Riaz Muhammad Khan meet here on November 14 and 15.

Official sources said a quick session on the mechanism is likely to be held on the days the Foreign Secretaries meet, during which India will provide evidence relating to the July serial blasts in Mumbai.

Asked about the nature of the mechanism, the sources said it was likely to comprise "two-three persons".

The idea was that the mechanism would be "small and efficient" and comprise officials dealing with foreign affairs, intelligence and investigative wings. India would watch carefully what Pakistan did with the evidence provided.

Clearly, the Foreign Secretaries' talks are all about implementing the agreement reached in Havana between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

No dates have been fixed for a visit by Dr. Singh to Pakistan, though India remains hopeful that the Siachen issue could be resolved in line with previous commitments made by Pakistani authorities.

Hu visit

Referring to the November 20-23 visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to India, the sources said it would provide an opportunity to "talk directly" with Beijing about the basic issues that interest the two countries.

President Hu and Dr. Singh would be able to discuss the current state of the world and India believed that China was convinced that New Delhi wasn't joining any American initiative to contain Beijing; that India had not surrendered its strategic autonomy in foreign affairs.

India has also been reassured by the fact that China wasn't "fiddling" in its neighbourhood; a fact borne out by the recent developments in Nepal. Pointing to the rise of China and India, the sources said that while there was space for both nations to grow, the leaderships could certainly discuss this issue.

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