India has proposed to US for holding meet on counter-terrorism

New Delhi, Mar 18: India has proposed to the US for holding of a meeting on counter-terrorism and was awaiting a confirmation from the American side, External Affairs Ministry said here today.

Noting that no meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Counter-Terrorism (CT) has been held recently with the US, Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh said India has proposed to hold such a meeting here in latter half of this year.

"India is awaiting a confirmation from the US side," Singh said in Lok Sabha replying to a written question. During US President Barack Obama's visit here in January, a joint statement had said that Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed the need for joint and concerted efforts to disrupt entities such as Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, D Company and the Haqqani Network.

The leaders agreed to continue ongoing efforts through the Homeland Security Dialogue as well as the next round of the US-India JWG on CT in late 2015 to develop actionable elements of bilateral engagement, the statement had said.

Singh further said India has entered into JWGs on CT with 22 countries and two international organisations -European Union and BIMSTEC- and these Groups have proved useful for exchange of views and threat perceptions, sharing of experiences and best practices, capacity building.

"The government, based on developing situations, also considers entering into JWGs with new countries and group," the minister added.

PTI