India wants coop with US to entail response to terror

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Calling Pakistan the ‘epicentre of global terrorism’, India on Friday said the recent events there highlighted the ‘enduring risks’ and pushed the US for security cooperation that will entail pre-emptive steps and effective response to terror incidents.

Launching the Homeland Security Dialogue, India and the US vowed to defeat the forces of terrorism through a series of steps like intelligence sharing and pressed Pakistan to move expeditiously in prosecuting those involved in Mumbai attacks.

During the day-long meeting, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and his US counterpart Janet Napolitino discussed the Mumbai attacks case and ways to enhance bilateral cooperation through agency-to-agency engagement, information sharing, forensics and investigation. They agreed to designated points of contact and establish protocols for engagement.

Chidambaram pointed to Napolitano that the ‘global epicentre of terrorism’ was in India's western neighbourhood, a reference to Pakistan.

"Our cooperation must cover all aspects of the challenges that we face: anticipating and predicting threats, taking preventive or pre-emptive measures or responding effectively and quickly to incidents," he told her.

Apparently referring to the detection and killing of Osama bin Laden in Abottabad and attack on the naval base near Karachi, he said: "The events of the past few days, especially inside Pakistan, speak to the successes and to the enduring risks and challenges."

Napolitino ranked Lashkar-e-Taiba, Pakistan-based outfit responsible for 26/11, as dangerous as al Qaeda but was evasive when pointed out that LeT founder Hafiz Saeed was roaming freely in Pakistan and even offered prayers for bin Laden after his killing.