Rajnath Singh says terrorism sponsored by Pak threat to India, humanity

Singh informed the visiting delegation that inter-agency cooperation between the two countries should cover bilateral, regional and international issues.

New Delhi, March 24: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday termed terrorism sponsored by neighbouring Pakistan not only a threat to India but to entire humanity, an official statement said.

The minister, who made the remarks as he received a nine-member Russian delegation led by Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov, also said that India and Russia were all-weather friends, "enjoy family-like relations" and Russian President Vladimir Putin was loved and respected by all Indians.

"The Home Minister highlighted the sponsoring of terrorism by our neighbouring country, which is a threat not only to India and international community but to the humanity as a whole. He reiterated that India has a policy of zero tolerance for terrorism," said a Home Ministry release.

Rajnath Singh said Indo-Russian relations had withstood all trying times in the midst of changing nature of international and political relations.

The statement said that the delegation level talks lasted 45 minutes. Singh informed the visiting delegation that inter-agency cooperation between the two countries should cover bilateral, regional and international issues.

It said he emphasised that bilateral cooperation should include areas of military and technical cooperation, energy sector, economic security and disaster management, and suggested that strategic cooperation between the two countries needs to be strengthened further.

The two sides acknowledged that there may be some "unfriendly forces" or "unfriendly actors" trying to create hindrances in the bilateral relationship but noted that "such adverse campaigns were incapable of affecting the deep understanding bolstered by regular dialogues and mutual cooperation", said the statement.

The Russian delegation extended an invitation to the Minister to participate in the 16th International meeting of the Heads of Special Services, Security Agencies and Law Enforcement Organisations in Russia later this year and he accepted.

Rajnath Singh also said that during his visit to Russia, he would visit facilities such as EMERCOM (The Russian Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters Ministry) to explore areas of technical cooperation between the two countries.

The release said that the Russian delegation included the representatives from various FSS departments including counter terrorism and intelligence analysis, while the Indian side included Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and senior officers from the Home and External Affairs Ministries.

IANS