British foreign minister calls on Mah CM, Mumbai police chief

Mumbai, Nov 7 (UNI) British Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett today called on Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh at Mantralaya here this morning.

Mumbai Police commissioner A N Roy was also present at the meeting.

Speaking after the meeting from a prepared text, Ms Beckett said her deliberations with Mr Deshmukh and Mr Roy centred around number of shared concerns including recent experiences of dealing with terrorism.

Drawing similarities between the Mumbai train blasts of July and the London underground attacks earlier, Ms Beckett said terrorists imagined that these atrocities would cause a climate of fear, drive communities apart and bring normal life to a halt.

''But, people of great cities of Mumbai and London responded to horror with bravery, compassion and tolerance. People were shocked and scared but they did not turn on one another. They supported each other, they got back on to the trains and the underground and refused to be cowed down,'' she added.

Ms Beckett said London and Mumbai police are working to draw practical lessons from their experience of terrorist attacks on mass transit systems. ''The Metropolitan police have already sent a team here and were hugely impressed by what they found.'' She said, ''We have agreed to share best practice and planning for the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth games and London 2012 Olympics. We will look at how we can share ideas and the best practice on protecting critical national infrastructure.'' Mr Deshmukh said both India and Britain have decided to set up a mechanism to jointly fight terror and Maharashtra would like to share the technology and experience of countering terrorism with Britain.

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