ID :
27987
Sun, 11/02/2008 - 19:47
Auther :

Nepal assures India of better security at Kathmandu airport

New Delhi, Nov 1 (PTI) With airport security in Kathmandu
a key concern for India, Nepal Saturday promised that it would
take necessary measures for ensuring protection to Indian
aircraft and not allow its soil to be used for anti-Indian
activities.

India raised the issue at the two-day Home Secretary
level talks between the two sides here in the backdrop of
intelligence inputs that Pak-based terror groups were likely
to make a repeat of hijacking of an Indian aircraft as in 1999
when an Indian Airlines plane was taken to Kandahar.

Briefing reporters, Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta
said at a joint press conference with his Nepalese counterpart
Gobinda Prasad Kusum that he has been assured that Kathmandu
would "do whatever needed to be done".

Gupta said Kusum promised to look into all related issues
in this regard and convey New Delhi's concern to the higher
authorities in Kathmandu.

The militants of Jaish-e-Mohammed had taken advantage of
the lax security system at Tribhuvan International Airport in
Kathmandu on December 24, 1999. The hijack drama ended on
December 31 with the release of three dreaded terrorists
including founder of Jaish Maulana Masood Azhar.

The other two released militants were Omer Sheikh, who
has been arrested in connection with the murder of Wall Street
Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl, and Mushtaq Zargar, a
commander of Kashmiri outfit Al-Umar Mujahideen.

Asked about activities of anti-Indian insurgent groups
active in Nepal, Kusum said, "we will not allow our soil to be
used for anti-India activities".

"Nepal and India are close friends for long. We will not
tolerate anyone engaged in anti-India activities in Nepal,"
Kusum said when asked whether Pakistani intelligence agency
Inter-Services Intelligence (I.S.I.) has set up bases in the
Himalayan country to carry out its nefarious designs.

A statement issued at the end of the talks said, "Nepal
conveyed its solidarity with India in the fight against
terrorist and insurgent groups".

The Home Secretary-level meeting, the first after
formation of a new government in Nepal, also discussed
cooperation in combating terrorist activities and steps to
check circulation of fake currency notes, arms and ammunition,
drugs and narcotics.

Gupta said the focus of the talks was institutionalising
the mechanism for real-time exchange of security-related
information between the two countries.

The meeting reviewed the Rupaidiha pilot project through
which India and Nepal wanted to maintain a record on the
movement of people between the two countries. The project was
launched not to hinder the flow of traffic between the two
countries but to keep a tab on any illegal movement.

The two sides stressed on regular holding of border
district coordination committee and enhancing ground level
cooperation between Sashastra Seema Bal (S.S.B.) and its
counterpart.

Last year, the annual talks were held in Kathmandu in
which India had expressed its concerns on trans-border crime
and fake currency rackets. A joint task force comprising
members of security agencies from both sides was set up.

It was then decided that S.S.B., a para-military force
under the Union Home Ministry guarding the 1,751 km boundary
with Nepal and the Nepal Armed Police Force would have better
coordination.

Gupta said India offered its support and cooperation in
matters relating to training and strengthening of Nepal
Police, Armed Police Force and in setting up of a Nepal Police
Academy.

"The cooperation include providing weaponry to Nepal," he
said.

Acknowledging that circulation of fake currency was a
matter of serious concern, he said certain forces were taking
advantage of friendship between the two countries and their
easy border to pump counterfeit notes.

In the statement, Nepal condemned the recent bomb blasts
in Assam and offered condolences to the bereaved. PTI ACB
PMR
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