Advani meets Israeli President

TEL AVIV, JUNE 14. Faced with the challenging task of countering terrorism, the Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, today met the Israeli President, Mr. Ezer Weizman, and discussed with the top Israeli police brass, various techniques employed by them to curb terrorism.

During his meeting with Mr. Weizman, who visited India a few years back and had earlier spent a number of years in Bangalore as an Air Force pilot, he discussed issues of bilateral importance. He later said Mr. Weizman was among those leaders who had played a key role in improving Indo-Israel relations.

The Home Minister said India had been facing various problems of internal security and terrorism for the last 15 years and ``in this context during my meeting with Israeli police chief, Mr. Yehuda Wilk, and other officials, we discussed a number of counter-terrorism techniques, particularly bomb- detection devices, in which Israel has gained remarkable expertise.''

Mr. Advani, who is on his maiden foreign tour after assuming office, is the first senior Indian Minister to visit Israel since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries in 1992. Great political significance is being attached to his trip here.

Mr. Advani will also meet the Prime Minister, Mr. Ehud Barak, former Premier, Mr. Shimon Peres, the Interior Minister, Mr. Natan Sharansky and top police and security officials, during the course of his five-day tour.

The Home Minister will visit the northern border areas to study border-management that Israel has displayed so remarkably. He will also pay a visit to Palestinian areas and hold discussions with the Palestinian leader, Mr. Yasser Arafat. His Israel visit will be followed by a trip to the United Kingdom and France to study security systems there.

Mr. Advani is accompanied by a high-level team comprising the Home Secretary, Mr. Kamal Pande, Joint Secretary (security), Mr. Vinay Kumar, the BSF Director General, Mr. E. N. Rammohan, the CBI Director, Mr. R. K. Raghavan and Intelligence Bureau Director, Mr. Shyamal Dutta.

- PTI

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