India already fighting terrorism: Advani

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 14. Asserting that the country had been making systematic efforts to counter the threat of terrorism, the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, today said that India had already set up Joint Working Groups (JWGs) with five countries, including the U.S., to fight the menace.

``Threat of terrorism is not against one particular country. It is a menace against the entire civilised world. Democracies across the globe are threatened by terrorism,'' the Home Minister told presspersons after launching a Hindi learning software here.

``We have forged ties with other democracies and made systematic efforts in the past few years to counter the threat of terrorism. We have already set up JWGs against terrorism with the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Germany and Israel.''

The Home Minister said the first war of 21st century possibly began on September 11 for the U.S., but India had been facing terrorism for the past several years. ``We saw a trailer in Mumbai in March 1993 when 253 innocent people lost their lives in serial blasts.''

``After terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, it is being said that a person is responsible and there is one country which is providing him shelter. But after the Mumbai serial blasts we said that one person who was a prime accused and against whom court proceedings were going on had been given shelter by one country. We have experienced terrorism and are still grappling with it,'' he said in obvious references to Osama bin Laden and Dawood Ibrahim.

Mr. Advani expressed satisfaction over the solidarity and support being pledged by several countries to eradicate terrorism.

Earlier, in his address at the ``Hindi Day-2001'' function, Mr. Advani said the spread of Hindi did not mean an opposition to English. ``Hindi cannot be given its due place by opposing English. Use of Hindi and the increased usage of Hindi should act as a reflection of the self-respect of our nation.''

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