India, US sign accord to check terror

India and the US on Friday signed a Counter-Terrorism Initiative that includes steps to check financing of terror activities, joint probes in bomb blasts besides cooperation in cyber and border security.

India and the US on Friday signed a Counter-Terrorism Initiative that includes steps to check financing of terror activities, joint probes in bomb blasts besides cooperation in cyber and border security.

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“With the formal signing of the initiative, we take significant steps against terrorism,” US Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer, who signed the agreement with Home Secretary G.K. Pillai, said.

Pillai said the pact was evidence of successful cooperation between India and US and was based on the solid foundation of mutual benefit.

An earlier initiative for cooperation in cyber security had come under a shadow more than four years ago when security agencies arrested National Security Council Secretariat officials in Delhi for allegedly passing on secrets to an American diplomat.

Friday’s pact was initiated on the sidelines of the visit of PM Manmohan Singh to the US last November. “President Obama and PM Singh have acknowledged the common threat that international terrorism poses,” Roemer said.

The agreement seeks to boost cooperation “to fight together on a global basis against a common enemy.”