News
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Indian IB chief coming to PakistanLONDON: In an unprecedented move, Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has ordered the head of country’s Intelligence Bureau (IB) to join the 12-member delegation led by Home Secretary RK Singh for a bilateral visit to Pakistan, according to a report. Nehchal Sandhu will be a surprise member of this high-level delegation. The Indian Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which met last Friday, insisted on the IB chief to be part of the delegation along with CBI Director AP Singh and National Investigation Agency (NIA) Director SC Sinha. The heavy-weight delegation for the two-day visit starting today has been carefully chosen to send a message to Pakistan – that India is serious on issues such as cross-border terrorism, the 26/11 probe and fake Indian currency. The last time India’s home secretary went to Pakistan was just before the 26/11 attacks. The then home secretary, Madhukar Gupta, visited Pakistan on November 25-26, 2008, to meet his counterpart Syed Kamal Shah. The then IB chief, PC Haldar, was not part of the trip. In June 2010, then IB chief Rajiv Mathur did go to Pakistan, but for a meeting with his counterparts from SAARC. After the SAARC meeting, Chidambaram had a one-on-one meeting with Interior Minister Rehman Malik. But this will perhaps be the first occasion when the IB chief will be part of a bilateral visit to Pakistan. The Indian IB chief’s presence at the table during the home secretary meet with Pakistan may open a new avenue on cooperation, the report said. Earlier, Chidambaram declined the invitation by Malik to visit Pakistan. The Indian Home and External Affairs Ministry advised Chidambaram that until there was concrete progress on the issue of terrorism and bringing the Mumbai attacks’ perpetrators to justice, there was no point in he visiting Pakistan. Daily Times tried to contact Rehman Malik and his Public Relations Director Nawazish to confirm the recent developments. Both were not available for the comments. asif mehmood
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk