U.S. to help India in border management

By C. Raja Mohan

NEW DELHI, NOV. 24. The United States has offered to assist India in countering the infiltration of terrorists from across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and improving India's border management, it is reliably learnt here.

During the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee's visit to Washington earlier this month, the Bush administration committed a small amount to transfer appropriate sensors, unmanned aerial vehicles and other technical equipment to enhance India's capability to deal with the infiltration of militants into Jammu and Kashmir.

This will be the first instance of concrete American cooperation in countering terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. If India is satisfied with the equipment, it would have the option of buying them in larger quantities to strengthen its surveillance of the LoC.

Whether the President of Pakistan, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, is willing to be persuaded by the international community to exercise restraint on the LoC or not, the proposed U.S. cooperation is certain to boost India's ability to deal with cross-border terrorism.

If American equipment shows good results on the ground, technical cooperation with the U.S. is likely to strengthen the security management of India's long and porous borders, observers here say.

New Delhi and Washington have, over the last two years, been working together on broader aspects of counter- terrorism through the mechanism of a Joint Working Group. The bilateral cooperation in making the LoC less penetrable, however, signifies a big leap towards addressing the immediate terrorist threats to India.

It was also agreed during Mr. Vajpayee's talks with the U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush, to deepen the JWG consultations to include issues relating to nuclear, radiological, chemical and biological terrorism. This might lead to the creation of institutional capabilities in India to deal with the emerging threats of terrorism, involving weapons of mass destruction. The two sides also plan to cooperate in dealing with the new threats of cyber terrorism.

The American technical assistance in blocking infiltration from across the LoC reflects the commitment of the Bush administration to a comprehensive global war against terrorism that looks beyond the Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.

Indo-U.S. cooperation in counter-terrorism is also likely to get a big lift from the proposed visit to Washington by the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, scheduled to take place early next year.

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